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Infant Baptism and Adult Conversion 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/infantbaptismadu0Ohall 


INFANT BAPTISM 


AND 
ADULT CONVERSION 
8 pay UI 
/. By « he 


Translated from the Norwegian by 
CLARENCE J. CARLSEN 


AUGSBURG PUBLISHING HOUSE 


Minneapolis, Minnesota 


INFANT BAPTISM AND ADULT CONVERSION 
Copyright © MCMXXIV 


The Lutheran Free Church Publishing Co. 
Assigned to Augsburg Publishing House 


MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 


Contents 


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Introduction 


Ae relation between regeneration in Baptism on 

the one hand and awakening and conversion on 
the other is a problem which has produced great dif- 
ficulties through the history of the church. This comes 
most clearly to light in the preaching. Some preach- 
ing keeps baptismal grace clearly in view and speaks 
of it both often and fervently. But it seldom or never 
mentions awakening and conversion. It does not reject 
awakening and conversion. But it is unable to find an 
organic place for them in connection with baptismal 
grace. 

Other preaching speaks clearly of awakening and 
conversion. But it never mentions Baptism, not be- 
cause it rejects the regenerative effect of Baptism, but 
because it is unable to provide a place for Baptism 
in connection with awakening and conversion. 


] 


8 INFANT BAPTISM 


One who is somewhat well informed will know 
how much of both these kinds of preaching there is 
in our day. And both will work harm by suppressing 
such important phases of the Gospel’s saving truth. 
It will be of great importance both for preaching and 
for the care of souls to have placed awakening and 
conversion in the right relation to baptismal grace. 
It will be of importance both in dealing with the 
God-fearing child that has remained in the grace of 
Baptism, and with the backslider who is awakened 
and led to conversion. 


I 


The Baptismal Gift of Salvation 


UR inquiry concerns itself with the relation be- 

tween regeneration in Infant Baptism on the 
one hand and awakening and conversion on the 
other. Naturally, then, we take as our starting-point 
the baptism of the child. But before we proceed to 
speak about Infant Baptism, we must very briefly 
ascertain what the Scriptures tell us about Baptism 
and the gift of salvation which the Lord has joined 
to it. 

We begin, therefore, with the Lord’s words of in- | 
stitution (Matt. 28:19-20): “Go ye therefore, and make/ 
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the 
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatso- 
ever I commanded you.” 


10 INFANT BAPTISM 


These words show us, in the first place, that the 
Lord here speaks of a new Baptism, different from 
the baptism of John, with which he himself had been 
baptized, and which he made use of in his early min- 
istry (John 3:22 and 4:2). The baptism of John was, 
he himself says, a symbolic act only, containing no 
gift of salvation. “I indeed baptize you in water unto 
repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier 
than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He 
shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire” 
(Matt. 3:11). Now after his resurrection Jesus insti- 
tuted the Baptism which John had foretold, the Bap- 
tism by means of which he gives what the baptism 
of John only symbolized. | 

Thus, too, the apostles understood this command 
of Jesus. They understood the Baptism he speaks of 
here as a Baptism different from the baptism of John. 

This follows most clearly from the account in Acts 
19:1-5. Paul meets some of the disciples of John in 
Ephesus and asks them if they received the Holy 
Spirit when they believed. They answer: “Nay, we 
did not so much as hear that the Holy Spirit was 
given.” Into what then were ye baptized, asks Paul. 
They reply: “Into John’s baptism.” And then Paul 
baptized them into the name of the Lord Jesus. 

In the second place, these words of Jesus show us 
that Baptism is the means whereby men are made — 
disciples of Jesus. And by disciples of the Messiah 


ADULT CONVERSION 11 


are meant men who are partakers in and recipients 
of the Messiah’s gift of salvation. And John had al- 
ready prophesied that the Messiah’s one great gift of 
salvation is the Spirit. “He shall baptize you in the 
Holy Spirit and in fire.” In the words of the Great 
Commission the Lord thus ordains the act of Bap- 
tism as the outward means whereby men become 
partakers of the Messianic salvation. 

In the third place, the expression, “to baptize into 
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the 
Holy Spirit,” shows that the gift of salvation which 
is joined to the act of Baptism is participation in the 
complete revelation of salvation as achieved in our 
world by the triune God. This means, then, that in 
Baptism man becomes a partaker of all the saving 
grace which God has put into the world. 

Have we now understood these words of Jesus aright 
by interpreting them in this way? 

We can test this most readily by ascertaining how 
the apostles understood the baptismal command of 
Jesus. They were supplied by the Lord with divine 
grace to understand him rightly and to interpret his 
utterances correctly in all points, consequently also 
these words of his concerning Baptism. 

Let us now see how the apostles express themselves 
concerning the gift of salvation which is connected 
with the outward Baptism with water. 

In this brief survey we shall not examine all the 


12 INFANT BAPTISM 


apostolic sayings concerning Baptism; we shall con- 
sider only the most distinctive ones. 

Let us notice how the New Testament authors with 
one accord connect the gift of the forgiveness of sins 
with Baptism. Peter speaks thus: “Repent ye, and be 
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ 
unto the remission of your sins” (Acts 2:38). “Arise, 
and be baptized, and wash away thy sins,” Ananias 
tells Paul (Acts 22:16). And in Hebrews 10:22 it 
says: “Let us draw near with a true heart in fulness 
of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil 
conscience: and having our body washed with pure 
water.” Here Baptism is not expressly mentioned; 
but that the author has Baptism in mind is perfectly 
apparent, because the church possessed no other act 
whereby the body was washed with pure water. And 
the author says that at the same time as the body was 
washed with pure water the heart was sprinkled from 
an evil conscience, namely through the remission of 
the guilt of sin. 

Let us next observe how the New Testament writ- 
ers join the gtft of the Holy Spirit to Baptism. Peter 
says: “Be baptized every one of you in the name of 
Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye 
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2:38). 
And Paul says: “In one Spirit were we all baptized 
into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). True enough, some 


ADULT CONVERSION 13 


have understood these words of Paul as referring to 
a baptism of the Spirit, having nothing in common 
with the Baptism with water. But the expression here 
does not allow such an interpretation. It says: bap- 
tized in one Spirit zxto one body. Here Paul has refer- 
ence to the act of God whereby we become members 
of the body of Christ, and that is, of course, regenera- 
tion. And Paul joins regeneration to the Baptism with 
water; we read (Titus 3:5): “not by works done in 
righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according 
to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of re- 
generation and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” 

In this instance, too, some have thought that the 
passage does not refer to the washing of Baptism. The 
expression “baptism,” like the expression “washing 
of water with the word” (Eph. 5:26), they have taken 
to be a figurative expression. But this is in direct op- 
position to all sound methods of interpretation. The 
churches which received these epistles had only one 
washing. And when the author uses this term with 
the definite article, the washing, no reader could think 
of anything else but the washing of Baptism. And if 
the author had had another washing in mind, he 
would have had to indicate it. 

Finally, we shall notice Paul’s statement that through 
Baptism we become united with Christ (Rom. 6:4-5; 
Col. 2:12). And if Christ was made unto us wisdom, 


14 INFANT BAPTISM 


righteousness, and redemption, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 
1:30, then it is clear that Baptism, by uniting us with 
Christ, makes us partakers of the full salvation; so 
a person cannot be given more than what is given 
him in Baptism. 

Thus we have proved, then, that our understand- 
ing of the words of institution of Jesus is right. 


II 


Baptism as Infant Baptism 


Mc: of the difficulties concerning the question 

of Baptism are associated with Infant Baptism. 
And because I take it for granted that you, my young 
friends, either already have contended or in the future 
will have to contend with these difficulties, I desire 
to treat of them here, in order that we may have a 
solid Scriptural foundation upon which to stand as 
we proceed to speak of regeneration in Infant Bap- 
tism. Let us deal with the arguments against Infant 
Baptism in the following order: 

1. The history of the earliest church furnishes, it 
is maintained, conclusive proof that the baptizing 
of infants is a human ordinance, which arose long 
after the death of the apostles and which came about 
because the church already at that time was begin- 


15 


16 INFANT BAPTISM 


ning to grow worldly. And for that reason, also, it 
is contended, Infant Baptism was enjoined upon the 
whole church when the union between church and 
state took place in 325 a. 


2. There is no warrant in Holy Writ for baptiz- 
ing children. Not one command to baptize children 
can be found in all Scripture. Furthermore, it is 
never related in Scripture that children were baptized. 
True enough, it says that upon several occasions some 
were baptized with their whole household (Acts 16: 
33; 1 Cor. 1:16). But nothing is said to indicate that 
there were children in these households. Of course, 
some Jewish families may have been childless. But 
even though there were children, yet there is noth- 
ing which says that they were J/zttle children. 

3. Not only is it true that the Scriptures say noth- 
ing about the baptism of children but there are, on 
the contrary, passages which show clearly that chil- 
dren should not be baptized, it is maintained. Jesus 
did not baptize the little children which the mothers 
brought to him. He did, however, take them in his 
arms and lay his hands upon them and bless them 
(Mark 10:13-16). 


/ 


\/ 4. The Scriptures name requirements for Baptism. 
“Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you,” says 
Peter (Acts 2:38). “He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved,’ says Mark 16:6. But little children 


ADULT CONVERSION 17 


cannot fulfill these conditions. For that reason the 
baptism of children should be delayed until they grow 
old enough to repent and believe. 


/ 5. Neither do children need Baptism in that age, 
some say. They have not as yet committed any sins 
and they are still so sweet and innocent. Furthermore, 
Jesus says himself that the kingdom of God belongs 
to them (Mark 10:14). 


* 


1. The earliest history of Baptism is not such a 
simple historical question as the opponents of Infant 
Baptism seem to think. The baptism of children is 
presupposed and spoken of by the Church Fathers 
very soon after the death of John the Apostle. We 
note that the two types of baptismal practice run 
parallel until about the year 250 a.p. At this time the 
practice which baptized both adults and children 
emerges victorious. This is a very difficult historical 
problem. Both of these opposite methods of procedure 
in baptizing could not have originated with the apos- 
tles. Consequently, one of them has departed from the 
apostolic practice. This is all the more remarkable 
when we think of the authority the apostles had in 
the churches. Which is now the original apostolic prac- 
tice, and which a departure? 

As an answer to these difficult questions, I shall 
adduce the following: 


18 INFANT BAPTISM 


In the first place: Those Church Fathers who de- 
fend the Baptism of children emphasize explicitly that 
Infant Baptism was practiced by the apostles. And 
the Fathers who reject Infant Baptism never deny 
this assertion. They do not attack Infant Baptism on 
historical grounds, but for intellectual reasons. “Why 
does the innocent age hasten to the washing of Bap- 
tism?” says Tertullian. 

In the second place: When the administration of 
Baptism to children was attacked, it was because of 
a view of Baptism which early had crept into the 
church, namely, that it was impossible for one who 
had been baptized and then had fallen away from 
God to be converted again. As a result of this view, 
it was very common to postpone Baptism as long as 
possible, even to the death-bed, in order to guard 
oneself in the best possible way against falling away 
after being baptized. But that makes it clear why 
they did not want to baptize little children. Thus clear 
light is thrown upon the struggle against Infant Bap- 
tism in earliest times. 


2. Scripture does not enjoin the Baptism of chil- 
dren; neither does it tell of children being baptized. 
That is true. But when men say that they reject In- 
fant Baptism for this reason, they are not absolutely 
truthful. In that case the same people would have to 
reject other things also. Women’s participation in the 


ADULT CONVERSION 19 


Lord’s Supper is nowhere commanded in the Scrip- 
tures. Neither is it related anywhere that women par- 
took of the Sacrament of the Altar. If the opponents 
of Infant Baptism who thus feel themselves bound 
by the letter of Scripture were serious and sincere, 
they would also certainly be compelled to forbid 
women to go to the Table of the Lord. 

But as far as I know, no one takes such a pedantic 
and unspiritual attitude as that when it pertains to 
the administration of the Lord’s Supper. That being 
the case, we must have the right to ask: Why is it 
done when it pertains to the administration of Bap- 
tism? No, this is not the reason for rejecting the Bap- 
tism of children. It is only a subterfuge to which they 
resort for concealment. 

In regard to the kernel of the matter itself, the war- 
rant for Infant Baptism in the Scriptures, I will say: 
Christ has instituted neither Adult Baptism nor Infant 
Baptism. He has instituted Baptism. That is: He has 
once for all ordained by his creative Word what the 
saving effect of Baptism shall be and what gift of sal- 
vation shall accompany the act as often as it is ad- 
ministered. On the other hand, Jesus has not said 
when and where the act should be administered and 
who should be baptized. That he has left to his church 
to decide under the guidance of the Spirit of God. 

Exactly the same is the case with the Lord’s Sup- 


20 INFANT BAPTISM 


per. He instituted it and ordained once for all what 
gift of salvation was to accompany this act. On the 
other hand, he said nothing about who should go to 
the Supper. 

From the baptismal command we see very clearly 
that Baptism and the Word are the only means by 
which men can be made disciples of Jesus. Those who 
do not become disciples by these means cannot, on 
the whole, become disciples.* Therefore children also 
must become disciples of Jesus by these means if they, 
on the whole, may as children become disciples of 
Jesus. 


3. But, it is argued, Jesus did not baptize the little 
children which the parents brought to him. He took 
them in his arms and laid his hands upon them and 
blessed them. “That is what I do with my little chil- 
dren,” a Baptist once said to me when we were dis- 
cussing this. “Indeed,” said I, “doing that, and doing 
it often, too, certainly does not hurt your children. 
But I presume you realize that Jesus has never en- 
joined this upon you as a means of salvation. On the 
contrary, he has expressly commanded you to make 
disciples of all by baptizing and teaching them.” 


*At this point the tormenting question arises for many: What becomes 
of those children who die unbaptized? We must answer this the way 
the ancients did: God has bound us to the means of grace. He himself 
is not bound to them. He can, therefore, save these little children by 
means unknown to us. That he wills it is evident from this, that it is 
not his will that one of these little ones should perish (Matt. 18:14). 


ADULT CONVERSION 21 


The reason that Jesus did not baptize the little 
ones, but merely took them in his arms and blessed 
them, is exceedingly simple. It was because he had 
not as yet instituted Christian Baptism in the name 
of the triune God. Therefore he did not baptize adults, 
either, who came to him. 


/ 4. But do children need the gift of Baptism? 

Here, assuredly, we touch upon the fundamental 
difficulty in the question of Baptism. Here is where 
intellectual doubt concerning Infant Baptism gener- 
ally originates. Children are so sweet and innocent. 
And of course they have not, as yet, been able to 
commit any sin. And then, too, Scripture says that 
they belong to the kingdom of God. 

No, Scripture does not say that. The statement of Je- 
sus in Mark 10:14 does not say that by any means. He 
says that the kingdom of God belongs to them! not 
that the little ones belong to the kingdom of God. 
The disciples of Jesus thought that the kingdom of 
God was not intended for little children. Therefore 
they sought to prevent the parents from occupying 
Jesus’ time with these little ones. Then Jesus became 
angry and said that the kingdom of God is intended 
for them. 

“Is this a correct interpretation of these words of 
Jesus?” some ask. Yes, it is. That Jesus with these 
words never did want to say that children by virtue 


22 INFANT BAPTISM 


of their natural birth belong to the kingdom of God, 
every one should know who has read Jesus’ words 
to Nicodemus: “That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh” (John 3:6). Therefore every individual, also 
little children, must be born anew in order to enter 
into the kingdom of God. 

We find the same thought also in Paul’s writings 
(Eph. 2:3): “We are all by nature children of wrath.” 
“By nature’—that means: Our condition at birth is 
such that we are subject to the wrath of God which 
rests upon our whole fallen race. It is correct enough 
to say: “The infant has not, as yet, committed any 
sin.” But we cannot be born into this sinful race with- 
out bearing our share of the race’s guilt. 


_/ 5. But are children capable of receiving the gift of 
Baptism P 

Scripture names repentance and faith as the con- 
ditions upon which Baptism can have any saving ef- 
fect upon the one who is baptized. But a child cer- 
tainly cannot repent and believe. Therefore Baptism 
must be postponed until the child is old enough to 
be able to repent and believe. 

So they say, and so they do. And, of course, it ap- 
pears logically unassailable. There is only this little 
hitch in it: the plain words of Jesus are diametrically 
opposed to it. The ordinance of Jesus has been turned 
upside down completely. He says that we adults must 


ADULT CONVERSION 23 


repent and become as little children in order to enter 
into the kingdom of God (Matt. 18:3). Furthermore, 
he even says that whosoever shall not receive the king- 
dom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter 
therein (Mark 10:15). But the opponents of Infant 
Baptism say that the children must become like us 
adults; then they, too, will be permitted to enter into 
the kingdom of God. 

A few still argue: “Yes, but were the children to 
which Jesus had reference so small that they could 
not repent and believe?” The answer to this objection 
is: The record says that they brought (carried) them 
to Jesus. They were at least that small. And the Greek 
expression in Luke 18:15, brephos, really means fetus 
and is used in that sense, for instance, in Luke 1:41. 
But it is also used of infants and very small children. 

Thus it has become clear to us that Jesus looks upon 
children, not only as being capable of receiving the 
gift of the kingdom of God, but so receptive, even, 
that they are examples of receptivity for us adults. 


* 


The view of Baptism and of the child which rejects 
Infant Baptism is very deeply rooted. It is not mere- 
ly a misunderstanding of Baptism and of the child; 
it goes much deeper than that. Fundamentally it is 
a misunderstanding of the very truth concerning stn 
and grace. 


24 INFANT BAPTISM 


The opponents of Infant Baptism have not been 
able to hold fast to the statements of Scripture re- 
garding man’s total moral impotence as a result of 
the fall in sin. It comes to light most clearly in their 
preaching of repentance. It is preached thus: “Man 
must by repentance tear himself loose from his former 
sins and cease to love sin.” If the sinner is not able to 
accomplish this, the surrender is not a wholehearted 
one, it is said. 

Their preaching of faith shows the same thing. 
Man, by his faith, must draw grace unto himself. 
Grace is, indeed, free. That is, he who seeks it can 
get it. Faith is the hand by means of which the sinner 
reaches out for and appropriates grace. 

If repentance and faith are understood in this way, 
it is clear that the little child can have neither of 
them. The child cannot put forth any of the soul- 
exertion which, according to this conception, is abso- 
lutely necessary in order that the grace of God may 
be transferred to the heart of the sinner. 

In Scripture this is presented in an entirely different 
light. 

Man is lost because of sin. He possesses no power 
to tear himself loose from his old sins, still less to 
cease loving sin. Scripture tells us, moreover, that 
Christ came to release the captives. It tells us, like- 
wise, that the mind of the flesh is enmity against God, 


ADULT CONVERSION 25 


and “that which is born of the flesh is flesh” until 
it is born of God. 

Repentance, therefore, does not consist in this, that 
man is able by the power of his own will to tear him- 
self loose from his former sins; neither in this, that 
man is able to compel himself to hate sin and to love 
God. No, repentance consists in this, that the sinner, 
convicted by the Holy Spirit of his sins, submits to 
this conviction and confesses that he is bound by the 
chains of sin and that he loves sin and not God. 

Faith is not a soul-exertion or a condition of the 
soul which makes us worthy to receive the grace of 
God. Neither is it a power by means of which we 
should draw unto ourselves the grace of God. 

That is not necessary, because grace is free. Not 
only in the sense that all may seek it. It is as free as 
the air which envelopes us on every hand and forces 
itself in upon us as soon as it secures the least access. 
Such is the grace of God in Christ. 

The propitiation which Christ made by his life and 
death he made as the representative of and the sub- 
stitute for the race. Therefore this propitiation is the 
property of the race. The covenant which God made 
in the death of Christ consists in this, that he takes 
upon himself to impart to each member of the race 
the salvation which through Christ belongs to the 
race. See 2 Cor. 5:18-19, where Paul mentions “the 
word of “reconciliation” as a part of the dispensation 


26 INFANT BAPTISM 


' of salvation which God perfected in and by the death 
of Christ. 

As a consequence of this covenant, God provides 
that grace searches for the individual sinner. It is not 
the sinner, therefore, who first seeks grace. No, grace 
has already found the sinner the moment the sinner 
begins to seek grace. 

Because grace searches for the sinner long before 
the sinner thinks of grace, Baptism becomes Infant 
Baptism. Grace searches for man as soon as he is born. 
The little child shall, according to God’s covenant, re- 
ceive its part of the finished salvation, which it has 
a right to because it is born into the race which Jesus 
has redeemed. The child can receive a part in this 
salvation, Jesus says. It is to that extent receptive that 
it is an example for us adults in receiving the king- 
dom of God. 

How, then, does the child receive the kingdom of 
God? 

It, of course, has no idea of what is taking place 
in the moment of Baptism. It cannot think, conse- 
quently neither repent nor believe as we adults do. 
But it can do something that we adults first learn 
through repentance and faith: It remains passive, not 
opposing the grace of God. Jesus gains unimpeded 
access to this little human life with all his grace and 
gifts. 

Now Jesus tells us adults that if we do not receive 


ADULT CONVERSION 27 


the kingdom of God “as a little child,” we shall 
never enter therein. But how shall we adults get to 
the point where we, as the child, become submissive 
and do not hinder Jesus from entering with all his 
salvation? Of a truth, says Jesus, through repentance 
we become as children (Matt. 18:3). 

Here we see, consequently, what purpose repent- 
ance should serve us adults. It is to remove the oppo- 
sition by means of which we have prevented Jesus 
from coming to us with all his grace. Repentance and 
faith in the adult consist, therefore, simply in this, 
that the adult realizes and acknowledges his helpless- 
ness and decides to surrender himself unconditionally 
to the Savior. For Jesus needs Ae/p neither from the 
little child nor from the adult. All he needs is access. 

Thus we have seen that administration of Baptism 
as Infant Baptism is precisely an expression of how 
free and unmerited is the grace of God. 

This throws light upon the peculiar historical fact, 
that it is the Reformed Church which has had difh- 
culties with Infant Baptism. The Lutheran Church 
has had no difficulties, except such as have been in- 
jected into it from the Reformed Church through the 
influence of individuals here and there. That the Lu- 
theran Church has, without difficulty, retained Bap- 
tism as Infant Baptism is precisely because it has had 
such a clear view of human depravity and the un- 
merited gift of God’s salvation. 


| 


ITI 


The Unconscious Life 


WASTER this exposition of the baptismal gift of sal- 

vation and the applicability of Baptism to chil- 
dren, we now turn to the question of the effect of 
Baptism in the child. 

Theoretically, the question can be answered plainly 
enough. Through Baptism the child is grafted into a 
living connection with Christ and receives thereby a 
part in the full salvation: forgiveness of sins, sonship, 
and the new life through the Holy Spirit. But it is 
more difficult to give a practical reply to this question. 
What is it that takes place within the child in the 
moment of Baptism? 

What is done zo the child is not so difficult to de- 


_/ termine, because that is precisely the same as what is 
L | 


done to the adult who is baptized. The child is de- 
28 


ADULT CONVERSION 29 


livered from its guilt by becoming a partaker in the 
atonement of Jesus Christ. Thereby it is raised to the 
estate of sonship. 3 

What is done within the child is, on the contrary, 
more difficult to determine. True enough, we can 
forthwith determine this as follows: The Holy Spirit 
accomplishes regeneration in the little one. But if we 
ask: What occurs in the child, what is it that psycho- 
logically has taken place in this little life, we straight- 
way realize the difficulty. 

Then, too, it is a question whether we are not at 
this point approaching the mysterious realm into which 
the human mind cannot tread and where we simply 
in holy awe should take off our shoes. We know, of 
course, that regeneration both with adults and infants 
is the great life mystery, which no human mind is 
able to think through or explain. As we proceed to 
our investigation of this matter, we do not intend to 
undertake anything so unreasonable as to explain the 
inexplicable. But we do wish to consider everything 
that we can understand, and analyze it as far as we 
are able. 


When we set out to investigate the effect of Bap- 
tism in the infant, we encounter the difficulty that 
the child has only unconscious life. For we are as yet 
little acquainted with the nature and the laws of this 


30 INFANT BAPTISM 


life. But we shall now try to gather the knowledge 
we have of the unconscious life and thereby elucidate 
the relation between the unconscious and the con- 
scious life. 

In the first place, then, we shall record the simple 
truth that every normally developed human life con- 
sists of these two kinds of life, the conscious and the 
unconscious. And the relation between these we may 
express by a mathematical figure, thus: They are to 
each other as two concentric circles, two circles with 
the same center but of different sizes. The greater of 
these circles is the unconscious life. It may possibly be 
that many will be surprised on hearing this. It is also 
in itself remarkable that the life of a human being, 
which is, of course, a personal life, really moves more 
in the realm of the unconscious than in that of the 
conscious. But it is not difficult to show that this is 
actually so. 

In the first place, we lived at least two years in the 
unconscious life before the conscious life began to 
awaken. Most people lose consciousness some time be- 
fore the unconscious life is extinguished in death. With 
some this may take several minutes; with others, sev- 
eral hours, days, or weeks. 

In the second place, we may refer to sleep. Sleep 
temporarily renders our conscious life extinct, so that 
only the unconscious functions. It is highly remark- 
able that we spend such a large part of our brief life- 


ADULT CONVERSION 31 


time in sleep. When we take into account that the 
child sleeps so much during the first two years and 
that the same usually repeats itself in old age, we 
can no doubt say that every human being sleeps away 
on an average one third of his lifetime. 

In the third place, we can make reference to the 
fact that also in the awakened state we experience 
vastly more than the little we apprehend in our con- 
sciousness to such an extent that we can say to our- 
selves, “Now I experienced it.” Thus we see every mo- 
ment much more than we are conscious of having 
seen or, as we say, “paid attention to.” Likewise our 
ears catch many more sounds every moment than we 
take notice of. In the midst of the most alert state, 
our thoughts take a vacation—as, for instance, during 
meetings. We discover suddenly that we have been 
absent in the spirit for a while. Reference can be 
made likewise to the purely automatic organic func- 
tions within the body, digestion, for instance. We sit 
at the table and eat and do not for a moment think 
of how we masticate or how we digest our food. Fur- 
thermore, digestion is best accomplished when we do 
not think of it. Those people who begin to worry too 
much about their digestion generally develop indiges- 
tion. 

Just this little investigation reveals to us that we 
all, every moment of our life, experience much more 


32 INFANT BAPTISM 


than we can consciously grasp and hold up before 
ourselves and account for. My conscious life is, there- 
fore, only a small portion of the life which I live every 


moment. 
* 


The unconscious life-circle is, meanwhile, not only 
the greater. It is also first. Our conscious life begins 
at the age of two to grow forth out of the uncon- 
scious. This tells us a little about the dependency of 
the conscious life upon the unconscious. The uncon- 
scious is, so to speak, the root from which the con- 
scious grows, to which it is connected all the way, and 
upon which it must forever depend for support. 

This is elucidated exceptionally well by sleep. The 
conscious life is to such a degree dependent upon the 
unconscious that we must spend almost a third part 
of every twenty-four hours in the unconscious state. 
That is, the conscious life must at regular intervals 
immerse itself into the depths of the unconscious life. 
Therefrom it returns new and fresh, as our bodies 
do after a bath. 

How dependent our conscious life is upon the un- 
conscious is brought out still more clearly by the fact 
that sleep strengthens us most when it is deep, that 
is, when it has rendered the conscious life completely 
extinct. As long as we are sunk in torpor and receive 
semiconscious impressions from without and work 


ADULT CONVERSION 33 


them over in our dreams, so long do we not sleep and 
rest really well. 

The dependency of the conscious life upon the un- 
conscious 'we see most clearly from the fact that the 
conscious life simply cannot exist without receiving 
sufficient and regular sleep. In fact, we see that peo- 
ple who for one reason or another do not receive 
enough sleep for a long period of time, lose the abil- 
ity to live the conscious life and enter into the dark- 
ness of insanity. 

The unconscious part of our life is now termed sub- 
consciousness. It has to an exceptional degree attracted 
to itself the attention of our day and is studied ener- 
getically and thoroughly by present-day students of 
psychology. There is scarcely a subject being studied 
with such interest in our time as the subconscious life. 

We Christians should be especially thankful for this 
study. It will assuredly throw light upon many phases 
of Christian soul-life, and precisely on the most ob- 
scure phases of the Christian’s soul-life, namely, those 
which are not directly subject to the control of con- 
sciousness and will. Above all, this study will certain- 
ly help us to understand more easily the soul-life of 
the child, which moves to such an essential degree in 
the subconscious right up to the moment when it is 
grown and fully developed. We can without doubt 
say that the conscious life of the child is in the process 


34 INFANT BAPTISM 


of awakening all the way from the age of two up 
through all the years of childhood until it is fully 
grown. The real dividing line between child and adult 
is, therefore, this, that the conscious life of the adult 
has attained its normal relationship to the subcon- 


SCiOUs. 
* 


Our life with God also consists of two circles, the 
conscious and the unconscious. Here, too, the uncon- 
scious is the greater. Our life with God includes every 
moment much more than we can perceive with our 
minds and comprehend in our emotions. 

Life with God is an organism which functions un- 
interruptedly as long as a person possesses this life. 
It functions unceasingly also when the conscious life 
is not functioning, thus during sleep, and when the 
conscious life is occupied with other things than think- 
ing of the God-life, for instance during work. 

It is essential for us to be clear upon this phase 
of the God-life. It will free us from much unneces- 
sary fear and inward unrest, and it will give our 
God-life the inward rest and balance which it needs 
in order to grow. 

Especially in the first period of his Christian life, 
we are inclined to think that life with God consists 
only in the thoughts we have about God together with 
the emotions which attend these thoughts. For that 


ADULT CONVERSION 35 


reason we are during this period so afraid of all that 
leads us away from thinking about God. It is even 
easy to fear and shun work since it hinders us from 
thinking about God. 

Now this leads to an unnatural and forced God-life, 
a trait which we find also in older Christians within 
those Christian groups which have little or no vision 
of the unconscious side of the Christian life. They are 
especially tempted to force, by artificial means, the 
emotional life of the Christian up to an unnatural 
_ height. 

If, on the other hand, we can come to see that the 
God-life is a life which lives and grows uninterrupt- 
edly, also when cognition, feeling, and will are other- 
wise occupied, then we will get the natural rest and 
repose in our soul-life which is so indispensable to 
the sound growth of the God-life. Then we will go 
to our daily work with joy and gratitude, even if it 
prevents us from thinking unceasingly about God. 
We will gradually learn to thank God especially for 
work because it is such a natural and simple means 
of keeping our hearts and our thoughts from sinning. 

Many believers complain that they have so much 
to do that it is difficult for them to care for their life 
in God. For me the opposite is the case. My vacations 
are as a rule the weakest seasons for my spiritual life. 
Never is the temptation to rest from the battle against 


36 INFANT BAPTISM 


my sins greater. My spiritual life fares best when I 
am at my regular work. 

Jesus expressed himself once on this unconscious 
side of the God-life: “So is the kingdom of God, as 
if a man should cast seed upon the earth; and should 
sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should 
spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. The earth 
beareth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, 
then the full grain in the ear” (Mark 4:26-28). 

Of herself the earth beareth fruit, Jesus says. Of it- 
self life in God grows, and not because I think about 
it. With my will I am only to give it place in my 
thoughts and provide it with the nourishment which 
it needs and which I can provide for it through the 
means of grace. 

In this connection I shall mention a condition which 
is one of the most painful here in our world. I 
am thinking of the believers who become insane. Of 
course, in and of itself this is a grievous matter. But 
what often becomes the hardest for those concerned 
is that the insane one behaves in such a way that they 
must believe he has fallen away from God. Thus these 
who before becoming insane were warm-hearted be- 
lievers often begin to curse or speak wantonly and 
unchastely. Or, as is often seen in the case of old 
people, when hardening of the arteries goes to the 
brain, they may become so ugly and contrary, even 
malicious, that those near to them must believe that 


ADULT CONVERSION 37 


they have fallen away from God in their old age. 
The worst phase appears when these insane people 
commit suicide. Many people think that no hope re- 
mains because suicide leads directly to eternal perdi- 
tion. 

This conception rests, meanwhile, upon a complete 
misunderstanding of insanity. It is not recognized that 
the insane one is not responsible for his words and 
acts because he has lost the control over his life which 
consciousness and will exercise. Then the evil which 
is in every human soul gains unhindered permission 
to find expression in word and in deed. 

Even before becoming insane, the one concerned 
carried within him all this hideousness and wicked- 
ness. But then it was subjugated daily and kept under 
control by the holy consciousness and will of the 
new man. 

In this connection it is of great value to know the 
relation between the conscious and the unconscious 
life. We saw above that the God-life lives its life un- 
interruptedly also when the conscious life is rendered 
extinct, during sleep, for instance. Thus the God-life 
remains uninjured and continues to live also when 
the believer’s conscious life is extinguished by insanity. 
A believer, therefore, who becomes insane is not more 
responsible for what he does then than he is respon- 
sible for what he does and says in sleep. 

As comfort and consolation to those whose believ- 


38 INFANT BAPTISM 


ing relatives or friends become insane, still another 
thing may be mentioned. Just as impossible as it 1s 
for a believer to fall away from God while sleeping, 
so impossible is it for a believer to fall away from 
God as long as he is insane. The believers who be- 
come incurably insane are, therefore, already eternal- 
ly saved and forever beyond all danger of falling away. 

This is the comforting ray of light which gives 
solace in the midst of insanity’s terrible darkness. 

It should be superfluous, but permit me, neverthe- 
less, for safety’s sake, to remind you that I wish by no 
means to defend suicide with these thoughts. What 
I have said here does not apply to all who take their 
own life, but to the insane only. Not, furthermore, 
to all insane people either, but only to such insane 
people as were believers when they went insane. 


* 


Also in the life with God the unconscious life is 
the first to function. God brings about by supernat- 
ural means a living connection with the unconscious 
part of our person. Before the conscious life of the 
child awakens, God touches its unconscious life with 
his lifegiving Spirit. He takes our life’s finest and 
deepest roots and plants them into God’s own life- 
ground, so our unconscious life from that moment re- 
ceives nourishment and the impetus of life from God 


himself. 


ADULT CONVERSION 39 


And that is what happens to the infant in Baptism. 

The little slip of humanity is thereby put into liv- 
ing relationship with God. It receives life with God. 
Jesus illustrated this living relationship on one occa- 
sion in the beautiful parable of the vine and the 
branches. It is through Baptism that the little one is 
grafted into Christ. And no matter how small the 
branch may be, it has, nevertheless, the same life as 
the trunk. 

At the first birth the child was brought into liv- 
~ ing relationship with the whole sinful race and there- 
by with the author and captain of sin, the devil. The 
child is not conscious of this living connection, which 
is, nevertheless, just as real and just as active. The 
child’s early personal life is filled with and molded 
by this sinful life content. 

It is this inherited sinful life that God meets by 
regenerating the child, that is, giving it relationship 
with a life of an entirely different kind, with the good 
life, with God’s own life. The evil life is not to be 
permitted to work alone in the child. Now the little 
one receives, because it is a member of the race which 
Christ has redeemed, in the moment of rebirth, its 
part of the salvation which, according to the covenant 
of God, is given to and transferred into every human 
being which does not refuse to accept his portion of 
salvation. 


40 INFANT BAPTISM 


The child cannot as yet deny the grace of God ac- 
cess. Therefore God can, unhindered, give the infant 
a part in the finished salvation. Through Baptism the 
child is grafted into Christ, and thus it gains access 
to receive the full salvation which is included in the 
person of Christ. But for the time being it can neither 
apply nor make use of all the life and vitality with 
which it has become connected. The living relation- 
ship takes place, for the time being, only in the un- 
conscious life. For the child has as yet only this life. 


Now, if we are to get any idea of what is taking 
place during this time in the soul-life of the child, 
we must observe that the unconscious part of our per- 
son is in constant and lively association with every 
environment which partakes of this form of life— 
namely, with God, with angels, with devils, and with 
human beings. 

The unconscious part of our life constitutes the 
natural root-connection with the all-life. Through our 
subconsciousness the bottomless and endless ocean of 
life which surrounds us on all sides washes into our 
person and fills and molds it with its impressions and 
subconscious life-promptings. 

The conscious part of our life is like an island 
which shoots up out of the endless ocean of life. We 
could also express it in this way: It is that part of 


ADULT CONVERSION 41 


life which is our peculiar possession. The unconscious 
part of our life, on the other hand, is a part of the 
great ocean of life over which we have no personal 
control, either with our mind or will. 

Along what paths and according to what laws the 
life-currents move in the great ocean of life with 
which we communicate through subconsciousness, we 
are not qualified to trace, at least not at the present 
time. The laws governing the subconscious life are 
being studied energetically today. And it is possible 
that they will gradually come to be known somewhat 
better. 

But for the time being we can only point out that 
our souls are in a peculiar subconscious life-commu- 
nication of this kind, without being able to show fur- 
ther how this takes place. We see before our eyes 
every day that this hidden communication unites souls 
and fills them with a peculiar common life, which 
can only be explained by means of subconsciousness. 
We see how larger or smaller groups of people in this 
way can be filled with the same moods and emo- 
tions, the same thoughts and fantasies, and the same 
plans and purposes. 

Let us only think of what we call “the family 
spirit,” “the national soul,” “the spirit of the times,” 
and “public opinion.” 

To illustrate this I shall cite the following two ex- 
amples. 


42 INFANT BAPTISM 


When World War I broke out in 1914, we saw in 
a characteristic way how the German national soul 
awakened and set the whole nation in motion. Let 
us first look at the common conceptions which imme- 
diately filled great and small souls in the whole Ger- 
man Empire: the German people were surrounded 
by enemies who begrudged them their ability and 
power, and who now planned to crush a disagreeable 
competitor. Let us next observe the common feelings 
which surged through this richly emotional nation 
of millions: devotion to Kaiser and people, enthusiasm 
for the German people’s God-given task as the world- 
ruling nation. Let us finally notice the common voli- 
tional life which was instantaneously set in motion in 
those days, from the aged and down to the little chil- 
dren: a willingness to sacrifice, so imposingly great 
that it has in all likelihood scarcely an equal in history. 

In a community in Norway a horrible murder was 
committed. A young girl was murdered in broad day- 
light only a stone’s throw away from a much-traveled 
highway. Her body was mutilated in a most terrible 
manner. Naturally, a most diligent search for the mur- 
derer was made, but he was never found. There was 
something inexplicable and mysterious about it all. 
Meanwhile, shortly afterward, the family of the mur- 
dered girl pointed out a man in the neighborhood 
as the murderer. The whole community seized the 
thought at once, and without further ado called him 


ADULT CONVERSION 43 


the murderer on every occasion when during that 
time they discussed the murder. The police made an 
investigation in the case, but found no cause for the 
accusation. The man himself took the matter in a 
humorous way and called himself the murderer, and 
even came to the postoflice and asked if there was 
any mail for the murderer. But to this day the whole 
community is convinced that he is the murderer. 

Thus the folk-soul works. Without possessing legal 
proof, the family centers its suspicions upon one cer- 
tain man. And this unfounded suspicion and antipa- 
thy spreads like lightning through the whole commu- 
nity. 


We all have a tendency to value too highly the con- 
scious part of our life. It is, of course, true enough 
that self-consciousness is the essential elements in the 
life which we call personal. No life is personal with- 
out self-consciousness. 

Thus also in our relation to God. No adult can 
become a child of God but through the workings of 
God upon his unconscious life. The divine influence 
which leads to repentance must reach up into the con- 
scious life of the individual. For conversion is impos- 
sible except by a conscious and free choice. 

We easily value the conscious life too highly, never- 
theless. We believe that consciousness is the only portal 


44 INFANT BAPTISM 


into personality’s sanctuary: the conscience and the 
will. We overlook the organic continuity which exists 
between the conscious and the unconscious life in 
our person. 

Subconsciousness may be likened to a repository 
where all thoughts, ideas, moods, and emotions are pre- 
served so absolutely intact that not a single impression 
which has passed through either our conscious or only 
our unconscious life disappears. Here all of our ex- 
periences in life lie safely stored. 

This remarkable fact has been verified in different 
ways, partly by dream-life and partly by the so-called 
cleavages of consciousness. Due to an injury to the 
brain or to some other shock, a person suddenly for- 
gets himself, literally speaking. He does not remem- 
ber his name, does not remember the past, cannot 
speak his old language, or eat, or walk, etc. He must 
learn this all over again, just like a little child. But 
then it happens occasionally that a person like this 
suddenly begins to speak fluently a language which 
he could not speak before the shock. Investigation re- 
veals that the person involved had spoken this lan- 
guage as a little child but had forgotten it again com- 
pletely, just as children quickly forget a language when 
they no longer hear or speak it. Thus it comes to light 
that subconsciousness had preserved this knowledge of 
the language in question safely and faithfully although 


ADULT CONVERSION 45 


the conscious life had long since forgotten it, yes, not 
even remembered that it had spoken this language. 

Subconsciousness is, meanwhile, not only a repository 
which preserves a dead mass of psychological impres- 
sions. It is much more a workshop, which works over 
all of the accumulated material according to laws 
which we cannot define more closely. 

We experience only that subconsciousness does a 
quiet and unnoticed work of this kind, the result of 
which it sends up some fine day from its subterranean 
workshop into the clear daylight of consciousness. 

Thus most of us remember how we sat evenings 
in childhood working at a difficult problem in arith- 
metic and finally had to go to bed without having 
solved it. Then we went at it again the next morn- 
ing, and then we solved it very easily perhaps. For 
the subconscious mind had had time to work over 
the accumulated impressions, and now it sent the solu- 
tion at once up into our conscious thinking. 

We who preach the Word of God often have the 
experience that a text gives us great difficulty. It is 
impossible for us to find a line of thought leading 
into the text and opening it for us. We sit for hours, 
perhaps, working on our discourse, but with no re- 
sults. Finally we are compelled to leave our work, 
downcast and dejected. A day or two later we attack 
the same text, likely with a great deal of determination. 
And then, we often have the experience that the text 


46 INFANT BAPTISM 


opens itself and we see with our inner eye our whole 
sermon; it is a joy and a pleasure to work it out. Just 
such service subconsciousness is willing to perform. 
We should, therefore, see to it that it gets the time 
and the opportunity to do this work for us, whether 
it be problems in arithmetic or sermons or other things. 

The common sense of the people has long since dis- | 
covered this fact, long before any research worker had 
discovered its psychological foundation and consistency. 
Experienced and sober people never acquiesce very 
easily and quickly to a new plan which is proposed 
to them. On such occasions they reply: “Tl have to 
sleep on it.” Experience tells them, that they will be 
able to pass judgment more clearly in the matter 
when they have slept on it. Then the subconscious- 
ness gets time to consider the matter from all angles. 


* 


It is not difficult to see that a knowledge of this 
subconscious life will be of the greatest importance 
both for our judgment and in our treatment of the 
child. 

In the first place, the child communicates with its 
environment long before it is at all conscious of it. 
Through the subconsciousness it gathers from its very 
birth, yes, even before birth, impressions of which the 
subconsciousness never lets go but retains and assimi- 
lates. 


ADULT CONVERSION 47 


In the second place, the conscious life of the child 
grows out of the subconscious. The subconscious life’s 
store of impressions gives the conscious life its funda- 
mental control and marks the course of the child’s 
later personal life. 

In the third place, this should give us much con- 
fidence in our association with and our treatment of 
both children and adults. The good and the sacred 
impressions we are in position to give them they will 
never lose, even though they were not conscious of the 
impressions they received. By filling their subconscious- 
ness with sacred impressions we are permitted to have 
a part in forming their later personal life. 

This will also give us a great deal of confidence in 
associating with adults, especially in our relation to 
the unsaved. We pray for them and we speak with 
them now and then about the one thing needful. But 
we understand that our exhortations so easily tire them 
and harden them. We see how they live their worldly 
life thoughtlessly and indifferently. This knowledge 
may make us discouraged and despondent. 

Then it is well to know the subconscious life and 
realize that all the impressions we leave with them, 
both the conscious and the unconscious, through our 
actions, our words, our being, and our spirit, are all 
accumulated in the subconsciousness, and not one is 
lost. And while they live their conscious life thought- 
lessly and frivolously, their subconsciousness is work- 


48 INFANT BAPTISM 


ing quietly but surely with the impressions received. 
Some fine day it will send the result up into the con- 
scious life in the form of a thought of God which 
will have such peculiar power that it will concentrate 
the whole soul-life about itself. Then we say that the 
person concerned is awakened. Here we have the 
antecedent psychological history of awakening, how 
it is quietly prepared day by day down in the depths 
of the soul, even though neither we nor the person 
himself can, for the time being, see or notice it. 

I do not desire in any way by this psychological ex- 
planation of awakening to obscure or weaken the work 
of the Spirit in a person’s awakening. I only wish to 
point out where the Spirit works. During the whole 
preparation of the awakening he works in man’s sub- 
consciousness in a way that we cannot trace definite- 
ly. We know only from Scripture that he has access 
to work within the subconscious life. It is told of John 
the Baptist that he was filled with the Holy Spirit 
even from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). 

This quiet working of the Spirit which leads to 
the awakening in man’s subconsciousness does not, 
meanwhile, do away with his free choice. The work 
of the Spirit in the subconsciousness certainly no man 
can withstand. He has reserved unto himself the right 
to do this without asking man for permission. But this 
work of the Spirit in the adult will never lead to re- 
pentance and salvation unless it extends from the sub- 


ADULT CONVERSION 49 


consciousness up into/the life consciously controlled by 
the will. Here it is that man’s choice comes in. Here 
man determines either to make room for what the 
Spirit has accomplished and now consciously convicts 
him, or that he will employ his consciousness and his 
will to reject this work of the Spirit. 

Sudden conversions are spoken of. That there are 
such is absolutely true. There are people who may 
have lived in a worldly, even ungodly, way for years. 
But they are suddenly awakened out of this condi- 
tion, either at a meeting or through some other ex- 
perience. They make their decision and allow them- 
selves to be saved on the spot. 

But in reality this did not come to pass as sud- 
denly as it would seem. It appeared that way only 
in the consciousness of the one concerned. He did 
not recognize the quiet work which the Spirit had 
done during all these years in his subconscious life. 

This circumstance gives us confidence when we 
pray and prepare for revivals. We are_to rejoice in the 
fact that the Spirit works quietly in people’s subcon- 
sciousness. We are to be permitted to follow the Spirit 
in this-work in man’s subconscious life. That, indeed, 
is the great secret of intercessory prayer. By means of 
intercession we accompany the Spirit into the secret 
depths of the-souls.and influence them, although they 
do not for the time being surmise it. 


IV 


Baptism and the Word 


Bee NG this investigation both of what Bap- 

tism is and of the child’s psychological nature, we 
now turn to an inquiry into the relation between the 
grace which God has given the child in Baptism and 
the grace which he desires to impart to it through 
the other means of grace, the Word especially. 

For the sake of a general view, we shall first ex- 
amine this relation in the unconscious period of the 
child’s life, and next in the conscious period of the 
child’s life, and thereupon in the transition years, when 
the child passes from childhood to the adult age. And, 
finally, we shall inquire into the relation between the 
effect of Baptism and of the Word in such as haye 
fallen away from their baptismal grace but are again 
awakened and converted. 


50 


ADULT CONVERSION 51 
A. In the Unconscious Period 


In this period of the child’s life we can, of course, 
speak of the influence of the Word upon the child 
in a figurative sense only. For the child lives as yet 
only the unconscious life. But I hold, nevertheless, 
that it is in order to say a little about this also as far 
as the unconscious child is concerned. For the little 
baptized child is to be met, also during this period, 
with the grace of God as he has ordained it through 
_ the other means of grace, even though this influence 
as yet is only in part and imperfect because of the 
stage of development in which the child is. As a mat- 
ter of fact, the child should be surrounded on every 
side by the grace of God from the very moment of 
Baptism in order that its whole life from the very first 
may be formed by and filled with the saving grace 
of God. 

From the moment of Baptism, the little one is a 
child of God. At that time it entered into a vital union 
with Christ and became a member of his body. There- 
by the child has already become a member of the com- 
munion of saints. That the branch may be small means 
nothing in this connection; it is, nevertheless, in vital 
union with all the other branches on the trunk. 

If we thought a little more about this, we would 
certainly deal differently with the little ones, not only 
our own little ones, but also other people’s. Now we 


52 INFANT BAPTISM 


scarcely notice them when we visit in the homes. But 
if we looked upon them as members of the com- 
munion of saints, we would sacrifice both time and 
interest for them and do a little for them; if nothing 
else, we should pray for them. 

Now, it is the Lord’s will that these little ones 
should benefit by the communion of saints from the 
very first moment they are received into it through 
Baptism. The little child is to lay hold on uncon- 
scious impressions from God through us. We are to 
influence and by all the means we possess get in touch 
with the child in this stage of its development. These 
means are not so few. 

In the first place, we are to influence the child 
through our prayers. I have spoken of this before, 
and so I shall not dwell upon it in detail here. I shall 
only remark that this is the means by which we can 
influence the child even before it is born, and, at the 
same time, the means by which we at all times may 
have the strongest grip on the inner life of the child. 

In the next place, we influence the child through 
our spirit. We do not think about this very often. We 
think more about our words and our example. These 
do influence the child tremendously, certainly much 
more than we believe, and much more than the child 
itself has any idea of. But stronger than all our words 
and all our deeds is our spirit, that is, the life :tself 
within us, the life from which our words and our 


ADULT CONVERSION 53 


actions spring forth like little shoots. A person’s spirit 
always influences his surroundings, even when not a 
word is spoken and not a deed done. 

We should note that as John the Baptist in a super- 
natural way was filled with the Spirit of God even 
from his mother’s womb, so our children are filled 
with our spirit. Our spirit is, therefore, the decisive 
factor in the life of the child through all the years of 
childhood, but especially during the years in which 
we can reach it only through its unconscious life. 

Here is the profound responsibility which devolves 
upon us who are parents or brothers or sisters, or who 
deal with little children in some other capacity. It is 
not sufficient that our actions are such that they fur- 
nish a good example for the child. It is not enough 
that our words are good and true, so that they fill 
the little souls with holy content. Our spirit is still 
more essential. We must lay the chief emphasis upon 
having it sanctified if we are not to harm or entirely 
destroy the soul-life of our children from the very first. 

Most parents have no idea of how they harm their 
children by their untruthful, unclean, worldly, vain, 
and selfish spirit, injuring their children during the 
decisive years when the conscious life is being fash- 
ioned. I shall not make mention here of the parents 
who in their desire for pleasure leave their children 
and scarcely see them during these first years, but 
concentrate on social activities and leave their children 


54. INFANT BAPTISM 


with servants who fill the little souls with their frivo- 
lous, unclean, and hypocritical spirit. 

On the other hand, there are many parents who 
benefit their children more than they imagine by so 
living that the little ones are privileged to breathe 
the clear and holy atmosphere of a God-fearing home 
from the very first moment. That means something 
else and more than to provide them with fine clothes, 
many toys, a comfortable home, and, finally, a large 
inheritance. Remember this, you who are a father or 
a mother, or are to become one. 


* 


The child is, then, to meet something of the divine 
in its parents, and that from the very first moment. 

Now there is repeated in the child’s life what we 
see in the history of Israel. The first thing God could 
reveal to this childlike people was his will, his holy 
law. God’s holy will is the first thing of which the 
little child also can get an impression. 

The child is to meet the will of God first in the 
moral will of its parents, that is, through their dis- 
cipline. Many parents are not mindful of this. Their 
discipline therefore, becomes exceedingly casual and 
is most generally designed to prevent the child from 
doing something which is displeasing to the parents 
for the moment. 

This little child has the sinful natural life within 


ADULT CONVERSION 55 


itself. It is now the parents’ task through discipline to 
meet and to counteract the selfishness and obstinacy 
in the little one. For the impressions which now be- 
gin to enter the subconsciousness of the child are the 
very ones which are to contribute to the formation 
of its later personal life. 

The obstinacy in the child crops out immediately. 
It cries until it gets its own way. If it does not get 
its Own way immediately, it cries still more. If it is 
humored now, it will take into its subconsciousness 
the abiding and decisive impression that nothing more 
is necessary in order to get its own way than to cry. 

It is this subconscious stubbornness in the little one 
that the parents are to meet with their discipline. 
“But,” many parents ask, “how can the little one be 
disciplined as long as it does not understand a word 
or a gesture from us?” Indeed, that is simple enough. 
The discipline must be directed toward the subcon- 
sciousness of the little one, and the child will very 
quickly perceive the purpose of the discipline. Let it 
cry as long as it pleases. Do not humor it in its whims 
and fancies. Then you will see that the child’s subcon- 
sciousness soon gives it the information that it is use- 
less to cry. If the child has had the experience of cry- 
ing, for instance, three nights in succession until it 
has finished, without being picked up and carried and 
lulled, it will sleep the fourth night and all the suc- 
ceeding nights in peace, without causing any com- 


56 INFANT BAPTISM 


motion. Thus the child will be spared all that terrible 
crying and the parents all the night vigils and the 
other wear and tear involved in running to the as- 
sistance of the little tyrant every time it pleases him 
to cry. 

“But,” says the tender mother, “what if the little 
one should be crying because it is sick!” Of course, 
an examination is necessary in such a case. And that 
is not so difficult either. If the child is fed and cared 
for at the right time; if it is warm and dry; and if 
its appetite is good and its temperature normal, it 
can safely be allowed to cry until it ceases of its own 
accord. Its little life will then soon enter upon good 
habits. It will sleep, eat, croon, and chuckle, and play 
a little with its fingers until it goes to sleep again. 

This bringing up of the child even in infancy is 
the child’s first meeting with the will of God. Through 
this determined and purposeful parental discipline the 
child meets for the first time the unrelenting, absolute 
will, which it is useless to oppose. This is the only 
impression of the sovereignty of God the child can 
receive at this age. But then, too, it can receive a 
strong impression of this if the parents enforce this 
discipline. 

This discipline should continue through childhood, 
only it must be extended and enforced by more means 
and methods, according as the conscious life of the 
child develops. The essential elements in all discipline 


ADULT CONVERSION BY 


is just this, that the child throughout its whole child- 
hood meets father’s and mother’s moral will as an 
inflexible one which can be moved neither by crying 
nor by parleying and begging. Therefore, the obedi- 
ence of the child is the sure sign whether the bring- 
ing up has been rightly undertaken. The child should 
be accustomed to obey father’s and mother’s words 
immediately and without raising objections. For that 
reason, do not give many rules for the child’s daily 
life. But you must be consistent and patient enough 
to demand obedience to the rules that you do give. 

Such discipline during the infancy of the child will 
be of decisive importance for the whole future life of 
the child. 

In the first place: For the child which has from the 
very first met the absolute and holy will which it has 
been futile to oppose; for the child which from the 
very beginning has had the impression stamped upon 
its subconsciousness that its own will must yield, it 
will be much easier all the way later on to submit to 
the discipline of its parents. The discipline will, there- 
fore, be less painful both for the child and for the 
parents. 

In the second place: It will be so much easier for 
this child to submit its will to that of its brothers and 
sisters and other children. Its childhood will, there- 
fore, be much easier and much more pleasant. 

In the third place: It will also be easier for this child 


58 INFANT BAPTISM 


to find its place in society at large and to submit to 
the law of the land. Those children, on the other hand, 
who have been able to get their own way by crying 
whenever they took a notion or a fancy, have actually 
been reared by their sentimental parents for a career 
in crime. Look, for instance, at the little three-year- 
old who in anger throws himself to the ground and 
spits at his own mother and kicks and strikes in all 
directions. Do you not see the criminal in the little 
one? The only thing he lacks is strength to carry out 
what he in his brutal and uncontrolled mind wishes. 
When this child’s obstinacy has been humored ten or 
twelve years more, and his stubbornness and physical 
powers have increased manifold, he will be fairly well 
trained for a career in crime. 

In the fourth place: The child that has learned from 
its very infancy to bend its own will in submission 
to the will of God in the discipline of its parents has 
thereby gained a great advantage in its relation to 
God. It will be easier for it to be kept in the bap- 
tismal life with God. For it will be easier for it to 
subject its will to the will of God. And should it 
fall away from God, it will most certainly be easier 
for it to repent again. The most difficult thing in 
repentance is to surrender one’s will fully in subjection 
to God’s will. And this child has had regular train- 
ing in doing this from its very infancy, both subcon- 
sciously and consciously. 


ADULT CONVERSION 59 
B. In the Conscious Period of Childhood 


The great commission of Jesus commands us to 
make disciples of all by baptizing them and teaching 
them to keep all things whatsoever he commanded. 

The Word as a means of grace is, therefore, to step 
in and do its work together with the grace of Bap- 
tism. As soon as we can make ourselves at all under- 
stood to the little ones by talking to them, we should 
begin to speak to them about Jesus. Many, however, 
- postpone this because they think it is useless to speak 
to the child about these high and holy things before 
the child is old enough to “understand” them. 

This is due to a misunderstanding of the child’s 
nature. The child’s strength, as long as it is a child, 
does not lie in “understanding” the reality it experi- 
ences, that is, thinking it over and finding the logical 
or rational relation between its experiences. On the 
contrary, the child’s strength lies in receiving strong 
and vital impressions of everything it sees and hears. 
Feeling and imagination are most strongly developed 
in the child. And by means of these it receives and 
assimilates far more impressions of reality than we 
adults generally think, because our attitude toward the 
reality we experience is essentially reflective and cog- 
nitive and not intuitive and unreflective like the child’s. 

As a result of this, the child grasps much more than 
it “understands” of what we tell it about Jesus, granted 


60 INFANT BAPTISM 


that it is told in a somewhat childlike way, that is, 
in words and expressions that the child is accustomed 
to hearing and using, and in a descriptive and graphic 
way, so that the child’s imagination is stirred and 
everything is portrayed before the inner eye of the 


child. 


ae 


With regard to the relation between the Word and 
Baptism, two views, especially, have asserted them- 
selves, views so common that we must take them up 
for discussion at this point before we proceed. 

The one emphasizes quite correctly that Baptism is 
the means whereby the little one is regenerated. From 
the moment of Baptism the child has life in God. 
And now comes the Word as the means whereby the 
baptismal life which the little one possesses is, through 
the nurturing and guiding work of the Word, to un- 
fold its indwelling vitality. 

And wherever the Word is permitted to do its work 
through the Christian home, the Christian school, and 
the Christian church, there the baptismal life will 
grow quietly. Yet it is different with different peo- 
ple. In some it grows vigorously and quickly; in others, 
on the contrary, slowly and wretchedly. It may grow 
very differently, also, at different times in the life of 
the individual. During certain periods, both in child- 
hood and in adult age, he may be laid hold of strong- 


ADULT CONVERSION 61 


ly and live a rich life in God. At other times the in- 
fluence of the world may be stronger, so that his reli- 
gious interests are weakened, and he may even for- 
get God. 

This view, however, has no use for and does not 
allow for awakening and repentance. The life in God 
has not died out. The baptismal life-germ lies in the 
depths of the soul. It is merely overgrown with world- 
liness and needs only to be dug out again. The Word 
is to do that. And the Word can do this in the easiest 
and simplest way by speaking to these worldly Chris- 
tians about their Baptism and telling them that they 
are the children of God from the moment of Bap- 
tism. In this way these thoughtless people will most 
quickly be brought to see how they have neglected 
their God-life, and then they will begin to tend and 
care for it again. 

This view cannot recognize awakening and repent- 
ance in the sense of a decisive break with the past 
life. Such a break or complete turning about would 
be fundamentally opposed to the view itself, namely, 
that the baptismal life in this worldly person never 
has died out. Here there can be no break, but only 
one line of life, which may indeed wind often in its 
course, but which never breaks. 

The usual preaching of awakening and repentance 
is considered a foreign element which has gained en- 
trance into the Lutheran Church, and is looked upon 


62 INFANT BAPTISM 


as an incursion from the Reformed Church through 
pietism. 

On the basis of this fundamental principle it is 
natural that the function of the Word with regard 
to those who are baptized is conceived of as being 
educational. Through the Christian influence of the 
home, the school, and the church, the object is to 
encourage, prompt, guide, admonish, discipline, and 
chasten this child of God, according to its behavior 
at all times, whether child or adult, either as a good 
and obedient child, willing to learn, or as a recalci- 
trant child of God. 

And since the important point in all bringing up 
is to appeal to the best in the child, it is essential that 
the fact be understood as clearly as possible, that this 
baptized person is the child of God. In this way he 
himself will most easily come to realize how unreason- 
able it is to act toward God and man as he does. 

For that reason the opinion is held that the preach- 
ing which speaks of these people as dead and as back- 
sliders from God is both unpedagogical and unpsycho- 
logical. It will only discourage these disobedient chil- 
dren of God, bewilder them, and in that way perhaps 
even prevent them from rising from their disobedi- 
ence and obstinacy. 

As in all other bringing up, the quiet influence of 
the home, school, and Church through good, inspir- 
ing examples and wholesome habits of living is also 


ADULT CONVERSION 63 


here the most effective. The child is to be led into 
the common religious life of the Christian home 
through family devotions, family singing, and a sound 
Christian home life. In like manner, it is to be accus- 
tomed early to take part in the children’s services. 
And in due time it is to enter into the Christian work 
of the Church in which it comes natural for it to par- 
ticipate at all times. 

And too great demands should not be placed upon 
the religious life of these people. Even though they 
are as yet pretty worldly, we should accept their as- 
sistance in Christian work with joy and gratitude be- 
cause it is just this work which will bind them to 
Church and Christianity, and give them more strength 
to oppose the temptations of worldliness. The con- 
fidence which is thus placed in them will be a mighty 
moral lever in this as well as in all bringing up. 


* 


The other view of the relation between Baptism 
and the Word has not been analyzed so well nor 
made plain to the intellect. It is, therefore, more difh- 
cult to present. But, at all events, the gist of it is, 
that it places such a strong emphasis upon awakening 
and repentance that it cannot allow of a real regen- 
eration in Infant Baptism. It does not aim to deny 
this article of our faith; nay, it is not even conscious 
of being in disagreement with the Confessions. 


64 INFANT BAPTISM 


But it emphasizes so strongly that the real life in 
God is attained primarily through the awakening and 
converting effect of the Word that the regenerative 
effect of Baptism is pushed aside in consciousness. 
Baptism is never mentioned except every time it is 
desired to admonish the hearers against the dead faith 
which goes to sleep on Baptism. 

What conception of the gracious effect of Baptism 
is thus held, it is, as has already been mentioned, 
not easy to say. But, consistently carried out, such 
preaching will lead to this, that Baptism is not con- 
sidered regenerative, but only a part of God’s prepara- 
tory grace, which, like the preparatory effect of the 
Word, aims at the awakening and conversion of the 
one who is baptized. 

According to this view, the relation between Bap- 
tism and the Word is, then, that the Word supple- 
ments and completes the gracious work begun by 
Baptism. Regeneration is therefore logically relegated 
to the time of conversion. 


* 


In trying to decide with respect to these two views, 
we shall begin by taking sides with the first-mentioned 
in this, that it emphasizes so strongly the regenera- 
tive effect of Baptism in the child. This established 
truth must not be altered, either because of difficulty 
in understanding the regeneration of the child or be- 


ADULT CONVERSION 65 


cause of difficulty in reconciling it with the preaching 
of awakening and repentance. 

The child is born anew in Baptism. And this birth 
is, like every birth, an occurrence which cannot be 
supplemented afterwards. In Baptism the child be- 
comes a true child of God. 

But in regard to the relation between Baptism and 
awakening and repentance, we must dissent from the 
first-mentioned view. 

We must, in the first place take exception to the 
idea that a baptized person retains a living germ of 
the baptismal life within itself also when he is living 
in sin without acknowledging it and without honestly 
confessing it. This idea is nothing but the human 
intellect’s attempt to speculate about these inner psy- 
chological conditions without keeping to the safe 
ground of Scripture. 

If we will let Scripture guide us also in this, we 
shall get the definite information that only they who 
have the Son have the life. “He that hath not the 
Son of God hath not the life’ (1 John 5:12). “If any 
man love the world, the love of the Father is not zn 
him” (1 John 2:12). “Whosoever therefore would be 
a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God” 
(James 4:4). “Every branch in me that beareth not 
fruit, he taketh it away” (John 15:2). “This my son 
was dead, and is alive again” (Luke 15:24). 

The Word is to accomplish awakening and repent- 


66 INFANT BAPTISM 


ance in these baptized people who through conscious, 
unacknowledged, and unopposed sin have put to death 
the life with God which they received in Baptism. 
And that is the true meaning of these words: they 
must as dead be awakened from the dead. And they 
must break with their worldly life and turn com- 
pletely about, leave the broad way, and enter upon the 
narrow one. 

We shall touch upon the more intimate relation be- 
tween this effect of the Word and baptismal grace 
more in detail in the selection dealing with the con- 
version of the backslider. 

We must, in the second place, take exception to the 
first-mentioned view also as regards the work of the 
Word in those baptized persons who remain in their 
baptismal grace. The life which the child received in 
Baptism needs not only the nurture and guidance of 
the Word. It needs also the awakening and convert- 
ing work of the Word. I shall now try to show how 
the baptismal life of the child is unable to lay aside 
its childishness and pass over into adult life with God 
unless the Word leads it through awakening and re- 
pentance. 

In the child as well as in the adult, the Word is 
to clear away the hindrances which prevent the pow- 
ers of grace received in Baptism from developing their 
indwelling life and doing their work of creating anew 
the one who is baptized. 


ADULT CONVERSION 67 


These hindrances lie in the child as well as in the 
adult principally in the conscious life.* For that rea- 
son the gracious work of the Word is necessary as 
soon as the conscious life begins to awaken, because 
these hindrances assert themselves immediately. By 
way of a beginning, let us sum up briefly the awaken- 
ing and converting work of the Word thus: 

The work of the Word in the child as well as in 
the adult is to assist it 


(1) to see these hindrances, 


(2) to will to overcome them, 
(3) to be able to overcome them. 


In the first place, then, the Word is to awaken the 
child to see how it itself prevents the regenerating 
powers of Baptism from unfolding themselves. And 
since the hindrances lie in the inborn evil nature, 
which the child received at birth, therefore the Word 
must convince the child with respect to this inborn 
evil vitality. 

This work of the Word in convincing the child of 
this must, of course, proceed slowly and gradually. 
But from the very beginning we must keep our goal 
in view. And the goal in the acknowledgment of 
sin 1s: 

*In a previous section I have shown some of the hindrances which lie 
in the child’s unconscious life, and have pointed out the most important 


ways by means of which we can help the child to get these hindrances 
cleared away even before the conscious life awakens. 


68 INFANT BAPTISM 


(1) The definite break in the heart with all conscious 
sin, 

(2) The humble acknowledgment of the wickedness 
of the indwelling nature, with its love of sin and 
its enmity toward God, and, thereby, the acknowl- 
edgment of total helplessness, so that the soul 
will trust alone in the forgiving and regenerat- 
ing grace of God. 


Now this acknowledgment occurs in the child only 
in an incomplete form, a fact which many parents 
do not recognize. They seek, therefore, in their well- 
meant zeal for the child to force an acknowledgment 
of sin for which the child as yet is not spiritually 
mature. 

Throughout its whole childhood the child is un- 
able to reach farther than to what is mentioned above 
in the first paragraph: to acknowledge and break 
with all conscious sin. And neither do the conscious 
sins include very much in the case of the child, at least 
to begin with. As yet it is able to acknowledge as 
sin just a few things: especially disobedience to par- 
ents, naughtiness toward brothers and sisters, telling 
lies, and saying bad words. 

With regard to the last two of these, it is necessary 
to be very careful with the child in the beginning. 
It is not so easy for the child, to begin with, to dis- 
tinguish between what it has seen and heard and what 


ADULT CONVERSION 69 


it has been imagining. For that reason we can often 
catch it telling falsehoods, and we are easily inclined 
to punish it for telling a lie. We must be careful 
about this in early years and not undertake to punish 
before we have assured ourselves that the child has 
spoken contrary to what it knows to be right. 

In regard to bad words, too, the child may, to be- 
gin with, be entirely innocent. It has heard these bad 
_ words out among older children or adults, and they 
are repeated in all innocence. In that case it is essen- 
tial for us not to punish the child, but to instruct it, 
and at the same time turn its attention away from 
these words. 

Now the problem for us is to help the child to see 
more and more of such sins as a child is able to recog- 
nize as sin. But here, too, it is necessary to proceed 
according to the laws of pedagogy, and not burden 
the child with moral precepts which it is as yet not 
mature enough to grasp. 

We should, meanwhile, not only help the child to 
see and recognize more sins; we should above all help 
it to gain a deeper conception of sim itself. For that 
reason, we must try to direct its thoughts inwardly 
to the root of sin, the sinful mind. This is not easy. 
Nevertheless, there are certain sinful thoughts which 
the child can quickly recognize as sin, namely its 
thoughts when angry, bitter and hateful thoughts; 
likewise envious thoughts; later also vain and am- 


70 INFANT BAPTISM 


bitious thoughts; and, finally, toward the end of child- 
hood, unchaste thoughts, when the sexual desires are 
aroused and the child begins to indulge in these desires 
in an impure thought-life. 

Most important for us all in acknowledging sin 1s 
unfeigned sorrow because of sin itself and not merely 
on account of its consequences. We should therefore, 
seek to develop in the child deep and sincere regret 
because it has grieved Jesus by its sins. This is un- 
doubtedly the most difficult problem in pedagogy. And 
in solving it we must make use of all the means at 
our disposal. 

When the child has done something wrong, and 
you discipline it, you must above all have the child 
understand how grieved you are because of its sin. 
For that reason you must never discipline the child 
when you are wrought up with anger. In that case 
you will create fear in the child, but not regrez. On 
the contrary, when you discipline the child, you must 
show it that it grieves you to punish it, and above 
all that you are sorry that it has sinned. If it is natural 
for you to cry, let the child see your tears. They will 
burn themselves into the soul of the child, and be 
effective as long as it lives. 

When you have disciplined the child, at least when 
you have disciplined it more seriously than usual, you 
should always bring the discipline to a close by kneel- 
ing, helping the child to pray to Jesus for forgiveness. 


ADULT CONVERSION vil 


You pray first. Then let the child pray afterwards. 
And when that has been done, you are to declare to 
the child the forgiveness of sins. Then you should draw 
the little one to yourself, and tell it that it has now 
received forgiveness from you; and Jesus, too, has for- 
given it, so that everything is forgotten and all is well 
again. And Jesus will help the little one to be good 
and not do this again. 

If this procedure is followed, the child’s conscience 
will little by little be bound to Jesus, and thus its rela- 
tionship to God will become something more than 
pious feelings during the moments of prayer. The 
little one should learn to know that it is bound in 
its conscience to Jesus before sinning, and after sin- 
ning to feel deep regret at having grieved Jesus. 

If we succeed in this respect in bringing up the 
child, it will little by little become inwardly mature 
for the more independent life with God which in a 
natural way grows out of the child’s dependency upon 
father and mother. In early childhood the child should 
cling to its parents both religiously and morally. But 
in /ater childhood it should little by little be inward- 
ly released from this dependency and begin to asso- 
ciate in private with God and not only together with 
others at family devotions and evening prayers. 

This can be accomplished in the simplest and most 
natural way by developing the conscience in the way 
I have just sketched. The result will be that the child 


72 INFANT BAPTISM 


itself will feel a desire to speak alone with Jesus about 
these things in which it has grieved him. And it 1s, 
indeed, one of our happiest experiences with our chil- 
dren when we for the first time receive assurance 
that the little one alone has sought Jesus to make up 
with him and receive forgiveness. 

In this way the child is also naturally led to use the 
Word of God without help from others. And we should 
provide our children with New Testaments as soon 
as they have learned to read. To begin with we should 
assign them how much they should read each day. 
For it is essential that little children be given definite 
assignments; otherwise it will all appear insurmount- 
able to them, and they will quickly grow tired. 

Along this way the child will also finally be led 
to seek help through conversation about its little life 
in God. We must ask God for this intimate con- 
fidence. And if we have received it, we must on our 
knees pray to God every day that we may retain it. 
For in the first place, it is most blessed both for the 
parents and for the child. And, in the second place, 
it is of inestimable value for the child during the dif- 
ficult transition years. 

Even as the child’s knowledge of sin is both incom- 
plete and immature throughout all of childhood, so, 
too, is its knowledge of grace. The child does not 
have the prerequisites necessary in order to apprehend 
the innermost and the deepest things in the grace of 


ADULT CONVERSION 73 


God, just because it does not as yet know the deep 
root of its sin, namely, the heart’s love of sin and 
enmity toward God. 

The element of grace which the child can grasp 
is God’s willingness to forgive sin, that he helps the 
child to resist temptations, and helps it also in other 
things, both great and small. There are parents who 
have not understood this, and who have wanted to 
- compel their children to see their inner depravity and 
know the grace of God like adults. And they have, 
thereby, against their own will and without realizing 
it, injured the religious development of their chil- 
dren, and in many instances driven their children 
away from God. 


* 


Before we leave the age of childhood and pass on 
to the transition years, we must first take up the ques- 
tion of children who have fallen away from their bap- 
tismal covenant. 

First a few words concerning the falling away of 
children in general. As mentioned above, there is a 
camp which denies that a baptized child can fall away 
from God. They maintain that the life which the lit- 
tle one received in Baptism does not die out even 
though the child does not seek God in prayer and in 
the reading of his Word, and does not honestly ac- 
knowledge and struggle against its sin. This view, 


74 INFANT BAPTISM 


however, is contrary to Scripture, as shown above. 
And we must hold fast that the passages of Scrip- 
ture cited above apply to both children and adults. 

Concerning the falling away of children, let us first 
remind ourselves by way of consolation that a bap- 
tized child cannot fall away from God as long as it 
lives only in the unconscious life. Secondly, in the 
early part of the child’s conscious age it cannot of 
itself break with God. If the baptismal life of the 
child dies during these years, it is the fault of the 
parents. In that case they have neglected to give the 
child’s God-life the nature and guidance which it 
needed as soon as the conscious life began to awaken. 

In the third place, about midway between the age 
of two and the transition from child to adult, the 
child reaches a conscious, volitional life developed to 
such a degree that it has the necessary psychological 
qualifications for determining its own childlike rela- 
tion to God. At that age the child itself can break 
with God. 

Concerning the marks which indicate a falling away 
in children, we must, on the one hand, observe that 
both in the case of the child and of the adult it is a 
question of the inner life, and not merely of outward 
religious forms, such as prayer, reading, and attend- 
ance upon services. It depends upon the attitude in 
which the child performs these religious exercises. Of 
course, We cannot expect the same mature mind as in 


ADULT CONVERSION AG 


grown persons. Everything is done in a childish way. 
Proof that there is life in the religious exercises of 
the child is this, that the child sincerely confesses to 
God the sins of which it is conscious in its childhood 
stage of development. The child that lives in conscious 
sins, without acknowledging and struggling against 
them, has fallen away from God even though it prays 
and reads the Bible. 

Meanwhile, it is necessary to be aware of the child’s 
dependency upon the Christian guidance of its par- 
ents. As mentioned above, the parents should take the 
child with them to the Lord and help the child to 
ask him forgiveness for its sin. I would, therefore, 
express the relationship thus: that child has fallen 
away from God which will not from the heart ask 
God’s forgiveness for the sins of which it is conscious 
when the parents seek to have the child kneel and 
make up with God. 

If a child has thus fallen away from God, we should 
speak the Word of God to it for the purpose of lead- 
ing it to awakening and repentance. True, there are 
some who think that this is unnecessary. They think 
that we should rather try to speak to the child about 
Jesus so that it will again be induced to love him, and 
be good at home as well as away from home. But this 
line of thought is both unbiblical and unpsychologi- 
cal both as concerns children and grown persons. 

Faith is always psychologically conditioned by re- 


76 INFANT BAPTISM 


gret and reconciliation. Thus it is in life even be- 
tween people. If I have offended a person, a confiden- 
tial relationship between us cannot be restored before 
I am willing to confess my offense against him, even 
though he is willing to forgive me. 

For that reason we must speak to the fallen child 
for the purpose of leading it to awakening and re- 
pentance. It is a distortion of the Gospel to tell these 
children that Jesus is just as pleased with them. On 
the contrary, we should tell them that Jesus grieves 
over them. And we should tell them of their sin, name- 
ly, that they do not care to have Jesus watch over their 
daily life and that they will not heed the reproach of 
their conscience. But at the same time we must tell 
them how Jesus desires to save them from this wicked 
and untruthful life. We should tell them about the 
suffering and death of Jesus for them. Nothing else 
is so certain to melt the defiance and obstinacy of the 
little heart. And we are to tell them that Jesus is just 
waiting for them to come and tell him things as they 
are: for then he is willing to forgive all. 

But this must be made known to the child in a 
childlike way, a condition which many overlook in 
the home and in the Sunday school. 


C. In the Transition Period 


I now desire to speak of the God-fearing child’s 
religious transition from child to adult. | 


ADULT CONVERSION m4 


It became a child of God in Baptism. And it has 
lived as a child of God ever since, in childish acknowl]- 
edgment of and opposition to all conscious sin. Jesus 
says about the little child that in its relationship to 
God it is a model for us grown people. Some might, 
therefore, ask if this child needs to experience a special 
awakening and repentance during the transition from 

child to adult. 

To this may be replied that the God-life of the child 
is indeed a model for us adults when viewed from one 
side. But at the same time, viewed from another side, 
there is something zncomplete and imperfect about the 
God-life of a child. Paul expresses it thus: “When I 
was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I 
thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I 
have put away childish things” (1 Cor. 13:11). And 
we shall now try to show what takes place when the 
God-fearing child puts away the childish things in its 
life with God. 
% 


We have noted that the God-fearing child gradually 
gains a deeper conception of its sin. How rapidly this 
development may progress is dependent mainly upon 
two factors, a subjective and an objective. The first is 
that the child receive the necessary guidance from par- 
ents or others concerning the will of God. We should 
note, however, that this guidance is not to be given 


78 INFANT BAPTISM 


in words only, but also in a holy life which the child 
can see every day. Secondly, that the child is scrupu- 
lously honest and that it conscientiously follows the 
little light which it has at all times been able to see. 
In that case it will go from light to greater light won- 
derfully fast. 

Its knowledge will, in that case, very early progress 
inwardly from wicked deeds and bad words to the 
attitude of mind. There is nothing to prevent a ten- 
year-old child from beginning to see and to struggle 
against the sins of the mind. 

The child’s battle against sin is thereby transferred 

to a different plane. To struggle against sin in word 
and deed may be hard enough for the child. But to 
combat sinful thoughts, the sins of the mind, is 
many times as hard. And what makes the battle espe- 
cially hard is this, that the child now begins to no- 
tice the sins of omzssion, not only the sins of com- 
mission. 
‘It sees now that God looks at the attitude of mind 
back of the deeds. And the question soon arises which 
is destined to destroy the God-fearing child’s childish 
peace: “Do you love God?” You pray; you read the 
Bible; you go to church. That is true. But do you do 
it because you love God? Do you hate sin? You strug- 
gle against sin, to be sure; but do you do it because 
you hate sin? 


ADULT CONVERSION "9 


To begin with, these questions will only bewilder 
the child. These thoughts are entirely new. The child 
knows neither what to think nor what to do. This, 
too, is a step in God’s gracious leading of the God- 
fearing child. It will serve to remove the superficiality 
and cocksureness with which as a child it decided 
everything, also things religious. At the same time it 
serves to give the child an unconscious or semicon- 
scious feeling of total helplessness. 

As the child continues working candidly with these 
questions, it will be compelled to say to itself: “I do 
not hate sin. At heart I love it, but I dare not commit 
it because I am afraid of the temporal and eternal con- 
sequences. Of course, I can walk around envying my 
playmates who have the courage to indulge in their 
sinful desires. And since my attitude toward sin has 
become such, it is not at all strange that my relation- 
ship to God has gone to pieces. I pray, of course, and 
read the Bible also; but I do not do it because I love 
God. I do it because I know that those who desire to 
be Christians are supposed to do it. Possibly I do it 
most because I do not want Father and Mother to suf- 
fer the pain of seeing me quit. You know they have 
rejoiced so much because of my life with God.” 

When the child first begins to struggle with these 
questions, it suffers very severely under it and grieves 
bitterly because it has gone wrong inwardly. But after 


80 INFANT BAPTISM 


some time it does not even feel this grief. It sees its 
condition, but is no longer moved by it. The heart 
has become cold and hard. 

The baptized and God-fearing child’s awakening 1s 
complete. 

What the child has now seen compels it to consider 
itself a fallen child: only the outward forms of its 
previous life in God remain. And these forms are 
nothing but an abomination to God. The child knows 
that it is baptized, and that it became a child of God 
in Baptism. It knows, too, that it lived a happy life 
with God during its childhood. But what good does 
all this do now when it has lost its life in God, and 
has only the form of godliness left? 


* 


Why does the God-fearing child have to go through 
this experience? For the simple reason that it cannot 
put away childish things and become a grown per- 
son in its relation to God in any other way. As I 
pointed out above, it is the work of the Word to 
show the baptized child the hindrances to its bap- 
tismal life which the child has within itself, namely 
the evil nature which it received through its natural 
birth. 

This awakening work of the Word has been in 
progress ever since the Word could begin to influ- 
ence the child. But now for the first time the child 


ADULT CONVERSION 81 


has reached that stage in its psychological develop- 
ment when the Word can complete the awakening, 
that is, convince the child fully of the evil nature 
with which it is endowed. 

And let us also note that the child simply cannot 
experience this awakening enlightenment of the Word 
without being affected in the way I have shown. It 
comes to see something which deprives it of every 
hope of being in the right relation to God. 

This experience is also necessary for the child, and 
that not only because it needs to experience and ac- 
knowledge its indwelling sin; it is precisely to the 
same degree necessary for the child’s experience of 
salvation. As pointed out above, the experience of the 
child is just as incomplete and immature with regard 
to sin as it is with regard to grace. Throughout its 
whole childhood the child has never apprehended that 
the grace of God is unmerited, because it has never 
felt the root of sin in its mind, which does not love 
God but loves sin. 

On the other hand, the child has now gained such 
a knowledge of its sin that it cannot get along with 
its childish experience of grace. It must now also pass 
over to a new plane in its experience of salvation and 
the assurance of salvation. If grace is to do its work 
in the child, then the child must experience it as un- 
merited grace, which it indeed is. 

In Baptism the child becomes a partaker in the full- 

Se ee ee 


tence 





82 INFANT BAPTISM 


ness of God’s grace. But because of the chiid’s psy- 
chological condition, grace has not as yet been able to 
do its complete work. The child has not been able 
to make use of more than a small portion of the 
grace it has received. But now, because of this experi- 
ence of sin, it is able to experience the innermost es- 
sence of baptismal grace: its being unmerited. | 


_-—~Jt has now become clear to us that the awakening 


affects the God-fearing child in exactly the same way 
as it affects the grown person who has fallen away 
from God. It works in both a knowledge of sin that 
reaches into the heart’s world, until both feel them- 
selves perfectly helpless in the grip of sin, because they 
love sin and are unable to change this love. _ 

The difference between awakening in the adult and 
awakening in the child is only a difference in length 
of time. In the child it takes at least from twelve to 
fifteen years, from the age of two, when the conscious 
life awakens, to the age from fifteen to twenty when 
the child passes over from childishness to maturity in 
its religious life. In grown persons it is possible for 
the awakening to come about more quickly because 
there is nothing in their psychological development 
which acts as a hindrance. But usually it takes several 
years, also in adults, even though they themselves are 
not conscious of it. See above in the section about the 
unconscious life. 


ADULT CONVERSION 83 


When the awakening of the God-fearing child is 
complete, it necessitates a choice. This choice is un- 
avoidable. But what it will choose is left to the child 
to determine. 

If the child submits to the conviction it has gained 
through its awakening, it will experience repentance. 

There are, to be sure, many who would not use 
the term “repentance” in mentioning this experience 
of the God-fearing child. But as far as I am able to 
understand, it is only a peculiarly stiff-necked dog- 
matism which prevents them from doing so. At least, 
their reasons cannot be logical or terminological ones. 
For what the God-fearing child now experiences is 
so precisely the same as the backslider experiences 
during his conversion that it is both natural and proper 
on logical as well as on terminological grounds to use 
the same term. 

Of course, there is a difference. But it is of a theo- 
retic nature. For the God-fearing child has not been 
off into the far country, as the backslider has. On 
that account it does not have such an outwardly sinful 
life to turn from. Let us, however, observe that the 
child certainly feels like a backslider. For that reason 
it experiences in its consciousness a choice between 
the two kinds of life, exactly like the backslider. Fur- 
thermore, the backslider’s real battle during conver- 
sion is not against the outwardly coarse sins, but 


84 INFANT BAPTISM 


against what the Epistle to the Hebrews calls “repent- 
ance from dead works” (Heb. 6:1). Thus the strug- 
gle toward repentance becomes the same also theoreti- 
cally for the God-fearing child as for the backslider. 

There is indeed, a difference here both of an ob- 
jective and of a subjective nature; but it is so imma- 
terial for the choice in repentance that it really does 
not enter into consideration. I shall, nevertheless, men- 
tion it. 

The God-fearing child is better situated than the 
backslider when it comes to outward sin. The God- 
fearing child has, of course, never been subject to this. 
It may have fallen into such sins. But it has never 
lived in them. It has had to confess them immediately 
and struggle against them. For that reason, these sin- 
ful habits have not had a hold on this child. The 
backslider, on the other hand, may often have had 
hard battles on this score. Many have abandoned them- 
selves to a sinful life in drink and unchastity, false- 
hood and dishonesty. And as a result of habits extend- 
ing over many years, sin secures such a grip on both 
body and soul that it means a life and death struggle 
for the slave of vice in order to be delivered from 
these sinful habits. 

On the other hand, the backslider is more fortunate- 
ly situated with regard to inner sins. Because of his 
outward sins he is so inwardly crushed that it is not 
so dificult for him to admit his total helplessness be- 


ADULT CONVERSION 85 


fore God. He looks upon himself as a wreck, and to 
him it is nothing less than a miracle that God can 
receive him. 

The God-fearing child, however, meets its greatest 
difficulty right here. Because of its pious life through- 
out all of childhood—and now, too, its outward life 
is pious and good—it is difficult for it to acquiesce in 
the judgment which the Spirit of God through the 
Word has passed upon its inner life. It is more easily 
tempted to evade the truth and rest satisfied with its 
Baptism and its pious life. 

Indeed, this is the great danger for the God-fearing 
child during its struggle toward repentance. 

In the first place, the whole thing is quite unintel- 
ligible to the child. The indolent flesh makes use of 
this inability to understand in order to tempt the 
child to let the whole thing go—it will all straighten 
itself out again. Or it will tempt the child to throw 
it all aside as a sickly notion: “Did you not become 
a child of God in Baptism? You have also lived as 
a child of God ever since. You have never desired to 
depart from God. Everybody considers you a child of 
God, too.” 

In this spiritual condition the child has but little 
strength with which to oppose sin. It no longer has 
peace with God in its soul and joy in the Lord as it 
had before. It is, therefore, powerless, and subject to 
all sorts of temptations. And if exceptionally strong 


86 INFANT BAPTISM 


and enticing temptations come from without at this 
time, this child may yield and openly fall from God. 

This, however, occurs comparatively seldom. Most 
God-fearing children who are unable to choose unto 
repentance permit themselves to be led in another di- 
rection. They compromise with their convictions. They 
try to accommodate themselves to this new spiritual 
condition. They admit that they are not right with 
God as before. But they console themselves with the 
idea that what they are now experiencing is the same 
as grown people often speak of in connection with 
their Christian life, namely, attacks of spiritual doubt. 
Furthermore, the Scriptures say something about work- 
ing out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 
This fear and unrest which they have felt recently 
are presumably a part of being a true Christian. And 
thus they calm themselves. 

This is so much easier because of the pernicious 
pastoral care that is often exercised in such instances. 
These young people who because of their piety have 
been the pride of the home, the light of the school, 
and the pastor’s joy, go in their spiritual distress either 
to their dear teacher or pastor and pour out their 
hearts. Often, even before the anxious souls have had 
time to tell all that pains them, the poor pastor begins 
to offer consolation. As soon as he is certain that the 
dear young child has not fallen openly, he pats him 
on the shoulder and says: “My dear child, what are 


} 
j 


j . 
/ 
\ 


“ 


ADULT CONVERSION 87 


you worrying about now? You have certainly always 
been so good and honest both toward God and man 
that you must realize that this is Satan’s attempt to 
embitter your life. Now do not worry any more over 
this, but go home and thank God, who gave you the 
good fortune to remain in the grace of your Baptism 
and thus please both God and man by your upright 
life.” 
* 


<_——— 
YO 


/ Why cannot the God-fearing child keep its spirit- 


ual life by retaining its former piety? What is it that 
causes its life with God to die now? 

child has now received new light. But it will not fol- 
low this light. And since this opposition to the Spirit 
of God is not merely a fall which is regretted and re- 
sisted, but develops into persistent obstinacy, the child 
thereby puts to death the life in God which it has 
had and in which it has lived from the moment of 
Baptism. 

Now it continues to live a life which it itself and 
many others believe is a Christian life. It is of course, 
almost as religiously disposed as it is possible to be, 
by inheritance, by training, and by the religious life 
which it has lived since Baptism. But the religious 
life which it now lives after this crisis which we have 
just described, is nothing but the natural man’s reli- 


88 INFANT BAPTISM 


gious life in all the Christian forms with which such 
a God-fearing child is very familiar. 

There are not a few of these religious people in 
the congregations. And none cause the true believ- 
ers greater difficulty than these. The ungodly and 
secular world is much more kindly disposed toward 
the believers. Inwardly the world has a holy respect 
for people who take Christianity seriously. But these 
self-righteous religious people are the worst and most 
persistent enemies of the believers. 

This is easily understood. There is something with- 
in them which becomes restless whenever they come 
in touch with living Christianity. Then they are re- 
minded that they swerved at the decisive moment. 
Their persistent opposition to the true Christians final- 
ly becomes a war of defense, prosecuted on their own 
behalf in order to make themselves and others believe 
that the life they are living is real Christianity, while 
the life of the believers is fanaticism and pietism, 
a self-sufficient and arrogant, sectarian and factional 
element within the church, which it is necessary to 
keep in check. 

When these people reach the point where they are 
to choose their calling in life, and they really have 
the opportunity to choose for themselves, they most 
naturally decide upon a vocation which has some- 
thing to do with religion. If they can become pastors, 
they take that course. If they are unable to provide 


ADULT CONVERSION 89 


themselves with the long and expensive education 
which is necessary for this, they go to normal schools 
and become teachers. In both these professions we 
have had and still have many of these people who 
will not tolerate living Christianity. 


* 


We have now followed the development of the God- 
fearing child which will not submit to the humiliat- 
ing conviction of truth brought on by the awaken- 
ing. We shall now follow the development of the 
child which submits. 

It believes as mentioned above, that it has fallen 
out of living fellowship with God and has only the 
empty forms of life left. It sees its sinful heart which 
loves sin and not God. It feels the hardness and in- 
difference of its heart, and recognizes, therefore, that 
it is totally lost. It also believes oftentimes, if not 
always, that it has sinned against the Spirit. Has it 
not “tasted the good Word of God and the power 
of the world to come,” and then failed God? It says, 
too, that God will spew the lukewarm out of his 
mouth. And when they are so cold and indifferent 
now, it must be because the Spirit of God has for- 
saken them. 

But in this torture, too, they are honest. They can- 
not abandon themselves to sin. Neither can they be- 
gin to be dishonest with themselves. They confess hon- 


go INFANT BAPTISM 


estly to themselves and to God their true condition 
and how they have deported themselves. And now 
their little hard and obstinate heart is broken. They 
have now lost all confidence in themselves, and there- 
fore do not resist the unmerited grace of God any 
longer. For that reason the unmerited grace of God 
itself can now reach that heart. A short passage of 
Scripture, explained by the Spirit of God, is sufficient 
to cause the light to shine. The child now sees that 
in order to be saved nothing more is necessary than 
to be a sinner who will not conceal or spare any of 
his sin. but surrender himself to him who justifies 
the ungodly. 
* 


We have now followed the baptized, God-fearing 
child up to the moment when, through awakening 
and repentance, it has experienced grace unmerited 
and received the full assurance of salvation through 
faith in the righteousness of Christ. 

But now our question recurs again: What is the 
relation between Baptism and the Word? Of what 
significance is it, in other words, to this child that it 
is baptized? 

This question gives rise to serious difficulties, and 
that not only for the child who experiences what we 
have just described. As a rule it is unable to get the 
relationship clear in its mind. Perhaps during this 


ADULT CONVERSION gl 


time its desire for a theoretical explanation is not so 
very pronounced either. That usually develops later. 

The one who is to exercise spiritual care of a God- 
fearing child in the transition age will also feel the 
difficulty. How shall we orientate the child, so both 
Baptism and the Word will be rightly evaluated in 
its consciousness, and thus give the child all the help 
it so sorely needs during this critical period? 

However, it is true here as in life generally: l:fe 
solves the problems before the mind does. With in- 
stinctive certainty the child has taken the right posi- 
tion in this difficult situation, although it is by no 
- means able to give the theoretical reasons for its posi- 
tion. 

The child takes a very correct position, in the first 
place, to its Baptism, and that in spite of the wretched 
pastoral care it has received. It does not deny the gift 
of Baptism, that it really became a child of God in 
Baptism. But it does deny that its Baptism is proof 
that it is a child of God today. 

In this respect the child’s view is entirely correct 
and wonderfully clear. If the child should make use 
of its Baptism as a guaranty of its life in God, it 
would be exactly as absurd as if a believer should 
make use of his conversion as proof that he now has 
life in God. On the contrary, the child’s view is right 
when it maintains the previous experiences of God’s 
grace are not sufficient proof that it lives with God 


g2 INFANT BAPTISM 


now. For it may have lost the gracious life which it 
once possessed. And that is exactly what the child 
thinks about itself. 

The child also takes the same correct and clear posi- 
tion with regard to its God-fearing childlife. It does 
not deny that it has lived a happy life with God through 
all the years of childhood. But it denies that this is 
any guaranty that it now possesses this life in its heart. 
In this respect the child’s view is marvelously clear, 
although it certainly is unable to substantiate its view 
theoretically. It is disengaging itself from the imper- 
fection and incompleteness of its childish relationship 
to God. The basis of its childish assurance of the grace 
of God was the work of Christ iz its heart, and it could 
not be anything else in that stage of its development. 
But now the time has come when its assurance no 
longer can rest upon this foundation. 

This is the inner reason why the child must now 
look upon both Baptism and its God-fearing life in 
a new light. It begins now to see that Baptism does 
not save ex opere operato, that is, simply because of 
the administration of the act of Baptism. In this re- 
spect the child sees more clearly than the pastors and 
teachers mentioned above, who refer the child so anx- 
iously to the fact that it is baptized. These people 
certainly are not conscious of how Catholic their whole 
view of Baptism is. They present it to the child as if 


ADULT CONVERSION 93 


the most important thing is that the act of Baptism 
has been performed upon them. 

The child takes a much more biblical and Lutheran 
view of the matter. It sees that the administration of 
the act of Baptism is not what counts, but the attitude 
the child takes toward the salvation given in Baptism. 
The very moment it gives up building its assurance 
upon the fact that it is baptized and that it has lived 
a God-fearing life and surrenders its worldly, self-right- 
eous and God-hating heart to him who justifies the 
ungodly, at that moment the child takes the right 
position with reference to its Baptism. Then, for the 
first time while fully conscious, the child receives the 
Baptismal gift as it really is, namely, as a gift of 
grace. 

Now the child does not build upon the administra- 
tion of the act of Baptism, nor on what Christ has 
done im the child; on the contrary, the child now 
clings to and builds its faith on what Christ has done 
for it. Thereby it has apprehended and appropriated 
to itself the true baptismal gift of salvation. For, as 
we saw above, the gift of Baptism is that ‘it puts us in 
fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ. 

But even though the child thus in a practical way 
takes the right position with reference to Baptism, it 
may be, nevertheless, that it is unable to explain its 
relation to Baptism theoretically. And that is, of course, 


94 INFANT BAPTISM 


a loss to the child in various ways, also in that it de- 
lays the development from child to grown person 
which we have just described. This process would 
certainly take place more easily and quickly if the 
child could receive this theoretical guidance concern- 
ing the relation between Baptism and the Word, be- 
tween regeneration in Baptism and awakening and 
repentance. 

Then it would see that Baptism normally leads to 
the awakening and repentance it now experiences. On 
the other hand, it would see that the fellowship with 
God, the assurance of salvation which it now experi- 
ences during its awakening and repentance, is neither 
anything new nor anything else than the grace it re- 
ceived in Baptism; but that the grace of Baptism is 
just what it has been put in condition to make use 
of and apply. It can by no means receive more than 
it received in Baptism; because at that time it received 
fellowship with Christ and thereby a part in the full 
propitiation which he made. 


D. In Relation to the Conversion of the Backslider 


Under the section above entitled The Conscious Pe- 
riod of Childhood | have given an account of two op- 
posing views of the relation between Baptism and 
the Word. The one holds that there is a hidden germ 
of life from Baptism also in such as live in conscious 
sins without confessing them and struggling against 


ADULT CONVERSION 95 


them. I showed there that this view is contrary to 
Scripture. I shall therefore not touch upon that here. 
Let me simply postulate that the backslider must re- 
pent in order to be saved again (Eph. 5:14; 2 Tim. 
2:25). And because he is dead he must be made alive 
again (Luke 15:24). 

The other view I presented gives no room for Bap- 
tism in its preaching, but relegates regeneration to 
the moment of repentance in the case of both the 
God-fearing child and the backslider. That the back- 
slider was baptized as a child, this preaching men- 
tions only when it desires to warn worldly people 
against consoling themselves with their Baptism. 

This preaching is, however, actuated by one right 
motive which we must not overlook. It desires to get 
away from the unbiblical thought that an abiding life- 
germ from Baptism remains in the backslider. It de- 
sires to emphasize that the backslider is dead in his 
trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-5). And, secondly, it 
desires to emphasize that in repentance something 
new is created in him, namely, the God-life which he 
lost when he fell. It desires to emphasize that a miracle 
of salvation takes place every time a backslider is con- 
verted. 

But having hereby recognized what is justifiable 
in this view, we must also point out its weakness. We 
have here a misunderstanding of the dispensation of 
salvation which the Lord ordained. And the misunder- 


96 INFANT BAPTISM 


standing is quite extensive. It is a misunderstanding 
of Baptism, of regeneration, of repentance, and of the 
continuity in the work which God does unto salva- 
tion in the human soul. Let us now consider this 
briefly. 


The real gift of Baptism is, as we pointed out above, 
to transfer to the individual the full salvation which 
is in Christ. And God never takes back this transfer- 
ence of power. This side of Baptism has been expressed 
thus by Gisle Johnson: “To be baptized means the 
same as always to be in the washing of Baptism.” 

From the time of Baptism as much of this Chris- 
tian life as the child is able to receive is transferred 
to it every moment. And it becomes the Word’s task 
to clear away the hindrances to this transference of 
power in the child, and thus provide more and more 
room for these powers of salvation. Consequently, God 
gives nothing more than he gave in Baptism. At that 
time the child received Christ. And God has nothing 
greater to give to sinners. 

If a baptized person falls away from God, what hap- 
pens then? 

Then this person’s living connection with Christ is 
terminated. He is without life in God and therefore 
dead and lost (Luke 15:24). But though this person 


ADULT CONVERSION 97 


has turned away from the grace of Baptism, the grace 
of Baptism has not turned away from this person. God 
never takes back the baptismal transference of power 
from one who is baptized. But now after the fall the 
sinner shuts out God’s saving power from his heart 
and his life. The sinner cannot, however, prevent grace 
from working upon him. It is shut out from his heart, 
but continues nevertheless to work upon his heart. 

And this it does in various ways, both through 
consciousness and subconsciousness. The Word works 
upon the conscious life unto awakening and repent- 
ance. And down in the subconscious the psychological 
impressions which had accumulated before the fall 
away from God through the gracious effects of Bap- 
tism and the Word are at work all the time. Under 
the guidance of the Spirit, these subconscious psycho- 
logical movements work toward a meeting with the 
conscious effects of the Word’s message of awakening 
to the backslider. 

Now when this fallen person repents, what takes 
place? 

Nothing is changed from God’s side. For he has 
never withdrawn the powers of salvation which he 
transferred to this sinner in the hour of Baptism. It 
was the sinner who through his fall refused to accept 
them. That was what occurred in the fall. And now 
through repentance a change occurs only on the side 


98 INFANT BAPTISM 


of the sinner. He now chooses to allow these powers 
of salvation to gain unhindered access to his soul and 
body again. 

What happens then? 

Then these powers of salvation bring forth the same 
life again as they brought forth in the hour of Bap- 
tism. At the moment of repentance the sinner’s living 
connection and living fellowship with Christ, which 
had been terminated, are re-established. And Christ’s 
life pours again into him who during the whole pe- 
riod of estrangement was dead. 

Then we usually say that he is born anew. The idea 
in this expression is correct. We mean to say that a 
miracle of salvation has taken place in the backslider. 
Through the supernatural power of God he has been 
translated from death to life. But the expression is an 
unfortunate one. It is neither logically nor biblically 
permissible. For we speak of a birth only the first 
time a person receives life. If a person who is born 
dies and receives life again, he is not born once more, 
but is ratsed from the dead as, for instance, Lazarus 
and the Widow of Nain’s Son. 

The same mode of expression will, therefore, be 
natural in the realm of spiritual life. A person who 
has been born anew once, that is, has received the life 
in God, but who loses this life and recovers it, of him 
it is not natural to say that he is born anew still an- 


ADULT CONVERSION 99 


other time. We would rather say of him that he is 
raised from the dead. 

And this is exactly the expression used in Scripture. 
As far as I know, Scripture never speaks of a fallen 
Christian who again repents and receives the life in 
God, as one who at that time is born anew once more. 
On the contrary, Scripture says that he is raised from 
the dead. “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from 
the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee” (Eph. 
5:14). As is well known, these words are directed 
to the believers who had fallen away from fellowship 
_ with God. Of these it is written that in order to be 
saved again they must arise or be awakened from 
the dead. Jesus also says the same about the Prodigal 
Son: “This my son was dead, and is alive” (Luke 
15:24). 

By means of this scriptural terminology we are 
able to bring out more easily the right relation be- 
tween Baptism and the word at this point. Here we 
do not have only the misunderstanding that has been 
mentioned, that the Word is the real means of regen- 
eration and that Baptism is only a part of prepara- 
tory grace. Many, also of those who hold fast to Bap- 
tism as a means of regeneration, become confused with 
regard to the relation between Baptism and the Word 
when it concerns the salvation of the backslider. They 
think that we have two means of regeneration, name- 


100 INFANT BAPTISM 


ly, Baptism and the Word. And they determine the 
relation between them thus: Baptism regenerates all, 
whether they are baptized as infants or as adults. The 
Word, on the other hand, regenerates only such as 
have fallen away from the life which they received in 
Baptism. | 

To substantiate this line of thought they cite a 
number of passages from Scripture which say that re- 
generation is accomplished by means of the Word of 
the Gospel. “Having been begotten again through the 
Word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). “Of his own will he 
brought us forth by the word of truth” (James 1:11). 
“For in Christ Jesus I begat you through the Gospel” 
(1 Cor. 4:15). 

But to understand these words thus is impossible. 
In the first place, we have already seen that Scripture 
does not speak of regeneration but of the awakening 
of the dead when a baptized person again comes to 
life in God. Scripture speaks, then, of regeneration 
only when a person for the first time comes to life 
in God. And that takes place according to Scripture 
through Baptism. (See what has been said above re- 
garding Baptism as a means of regeneration in the 
section dealing with The Baptismal Gift of Salva- 
tion.) 

What, then, is meant when Scripture speaks of re- 
generation by means of the Word or the Gospel? Let 
us first observe that no other regeneration is meant 


ADULT CONVERSION 101 


than the one which takes place in the moment of Bap- 
tism; for Scripture does not know of more than this 
one regeneration. 

In the next place, let us observe how we create dif- 
ficulties by our interpretation of Scripture, namely, 
by a spiritless bondage to the letter of Scripture. When 
James, Peter, or Paul says that the readers are regen- 
erated by the Word, we read it as though there were 
added: and not by Baptism. Then the difficulty be- 
gins. To the apostles, on the other hand, there was 
no difficulty regarding the relation between Baptism 
and the Word. We see that plainly from their writ- 
ings. These deal with many difficult questions for the 
benefit of their readers. But they never discuss this 
question. From this we can conclude that the ques- 
tion never caused them any difficulty. 

To be begotten again by the Word and to be regen- 
erated through Baptism are to the apostles one and 
the same thing, only viewed from different sides, ex- 
pressed in different ways. We must accustom ourselves 
to this, that the apostles speak of that side of the mat- 
ter which interests them in a certain connection, with- 
out mentioning the other sides of the matter, which 
they have spoken of in other places. To the apostles 
it is self-evident that the Word and Baptism work 
together. The Word brings forth faith (Rom. 10:7). 
But faith is not built on air. Faith is faith in the Gos- 
pel (Mark 1:15). But the Gospel is not something dif- 


102 INFANT BAPTISM 


ferent from Baptism. The Gospel also contains the 
words of Jesus about Baptism. Therefore, no one can 
believe the Gospel without seeking Baptism immedi- 
ately (See Acts 2:41). To desire and to receive Bap- 
tism become, therefore, the first testimony that the 
Gospel has brought forth faith. | 

As a result of this, Baptism and the Word are not 
in the New Testament looked upon as being opposed 
to each other, but as being intimately associated with 
each other. Baptism is a part of the Gospel, a part of 
the glad tidings. For that reason the apostles can say 
that we are begotten again by the Word, especially 
in places where they according to the context are not 
interested in separating or speaking individually of 
the parts employed by the Gospel of Christ. On the 
other hand, wherever according to the context they 
wish to give expression to the peculiar nature and 
effect of Baptism, there they say that Christ has joined 
the saving and regenerating work of the Spirit to the 
washing of Baptism. (See the section above concern- 
ing The Baptismal Gift of Salvation.) 


* 


Before I leave this section, I shall try to illustrate 
the relation between Baptism and the Word by means 
of a figure from the realm of mechanics. 

The wire is put into our house from the electric 


ADULT CONVERSION 103 


power station. As soon as the wire is installed and 
the power is turned on, it is only a question as to 
whether the contacts are in order in the house; if so, 
the power quietly does all its work, gives light and 
heat, cooks, fries, and bakes, washes, dries, and irons. 

If the contacts are destroyed in one way or another, 
the power ceases to work at once. It becomes cold 
and dark, and all machines stand still. But the wire 
leading into the house is exactly the same as before. 
And the power from the station is on. Now in order 
to make the repairs the station does not run a new 
wire into the house. The bad contact is simply repaired, 
and the power takes its usual course into the house 
and does exactly the same work as before: gives light 
and heat, cooks, etc. 

The figure is commonplace, but let me apply it 
nevertheless. 

In the hour of Baptism God laid the wire into the 
little child’s soul. From that moment “the power is 
on.” It accomplishes in the child all that the child has 
“contacts” enough to receive. The Word will see to 
it that there are more and more contacts in the child’s 
soul to receive and to utilize all the power to which 
it has received access through Baptism. 

Now when a baptized person falls away from God, 
nothing is changed in the “wiring.” The power is 
on as before. It is only the contact in the soul which 


104 INFANT BAPTISM 


has been destroyed. For that reason it has become 
dark and cold in there, and all the activity of the 
spiritual life has been stopped. 

When a fallen person is awakened and brought to 
repentance, no change takes place in the wiring or 
in the amount of power. That is all exactly the same 
as before. The change which occurs at repentance 
takes place only within the person. The contact is 
put in order again. The living connection with Christ 
is re-established. There is light in the soul again im- 
mediately; heat likewise. And the activity of the new 
life is again exactly the same as before the fall. 


V 


Importance for Preaching 


Nye. this inquiry into the relation between the 

gracious effect in man of the Word and of Bap- 
tism, we shall now, lastly, note briefly how impor- 
tant it is for our preaching and our pastoral care to 
present these thoughts. 


AS TO THE AWAKENING 


Now it is not difficult to see that these thoughts 
will easily grip the soul and cause it to reflect. As 
long as the God-life appears to the unsaved person 
as something distant and strange and practically un- 
attainable, he will continue the more easily to live 
his sinful life in peace, undisturbed. If, on the other 
hand, he begins to see that he did possess life in God 
during the first and happiest years of his life, life in 


105, 


106 INFANT BAPTISM 


God will no longer appear as something distant and 
strange. Memories of this childhood life with God 
will be called forth, memories which have a peculiarly 
attractive power because they stir the emotional life 
in the same way as in the happy days of childhood, 
and the sinner thereby receives the psychological pre- 
requisites for feeling his worldly and God-distant life 
as something strange. 

Furthermore, if the sinner can only be brought to 
see what he has once possessed, he will the more easi- 
ly discover what he has Jost, and feel how empty his 
life is without God. Holy longings will be awakened. 
The conscience will thereby gain a powerful ally deep 
down in the sinner’s soul. 

But above all, never will the enmity of the sinner’s 
will toward God be more easily broken than when 
he sees the mercy of God in the grace of Baptism, 
namely, that the sinner can never change God’s part 
in the covenant of Baptism. With all his sin he can- 
not alter God’s transference of power begun in Bap- 
tism. With all his recalcitrance he cannot change the 
gracious will of God, by means of which he seeks 
and influences the sinner every moment, whether the 
sinner understands it or not and whether he desires 
it or not. 

God’s tender care and patient perseverance with the 
sinner in his frivolous and stubborn life will more 
certainly than anything else overcome the sinner and 


ADULT CONVERSION 107 


make his life so bitter and burdensome that he will 
not be able to endure it any longer. 


AS TO REPENTANCE 


If the foregoing thoughts are of such importance 
for a person’s awakening, we can be more brief in re- 
gard to repentance. They will, in the first place, spur 
him on to a choice, because they make his life in sin 
burdensome to him and call forth deep longings for 
the peace with God which he possessed during his 
childhood years. 

In the second place, these thoughts will to a large 
degree simplify the choice for the sinner. And this 
is of tremendous importance at this time. Everything 
seems so impossible to him. How can he receive power 
to become a different man and break with his old 
life in sin? Here he learns that God will give him 
this power. But how can he secure it? In truth, the 
power wires have been in order since the moment of 
Baptism. He broke the contact by falling away from 
God. And now in repenting there is nothing that 
he can do but to give Jesus the chance to use his power 
within his helpless soul. 


AS TO FAITH 


This view of Baptism is none the less important 
for faith. The great difficulty for the honest, awakened 
soul is to believe the promises of God. He does not 


108 INFANT BAPTISM 


doubt that the promises of God are true, but thinks 
that they can never apply to him. He always dis- 
covers something about himself which makes the 
promises inapplicable to him, even though they apply 
to all others. It cannot be denied that there is some- 
thing general about the promises. They speak to all, 
and do not address themselves so clearly to the indi- 
vidual, at least so it seems to the troubled soul. 

In this respect Baptism occupies a peculiar position. 
Baptism is individualized grace. Baptism is the most 
distinct expression of the love of God for the indi- 
vidual. The promises of God are never spoken to the 
individual alone, but to all at one time. Baptism, on 
the contrary is something that God does to the indi- 
vidual. When I was baptized, God performed the 
act upon me and it concerned no one else but me. 
In order to be of greater help to the sinner, God has 
met him not only with words spoken to him as an 
individual, but in an act. And this act is to stand at 
the beginning of our life and tell us more forcefully 
than any word that God has once for all granted us 
his grace. And he never takes it back. For that rea- 
son we retain it as long as we ourselves do not deny 
it access and shut ourselves out from it. If we have, 
through backsliding, shut ourselves out from it, we 
can receive it into our lives again the moment we 
ourselves will it so. For it only waits for us to give 
it access. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR 


Until his death in 1961, Dr. Ole Hallesby was one 
of Norway’s leading theologians and occupied a posi- 
tion of unique importance in the land of his birth. 

A man of deep convictions and evangelical fervor, 
he threw himself into the battle between liberalism 
and conservatism which raged in Norway during the 
1920’s and 1930’s. He was a professor at the Inde- 
pendent Theological Seminary, Oslo, for 40 years and 
thus influenced hundreds of men who became pastors 
of the Church of Norway. During the Occupation 
of World War II, he became a figure of national stat- 
ure in the resistance movement, working closely with 
the late Bishop Berggrav and other leaders in church 
and state. 

Dr. Hallesby’s influence on American Lutheran 
church life was also unique. He visited the United 
States only once—in the early 1920’s. Through his 
books, however, he exerted an influence of almost 
unbelievable proportions. Nine of his 40 some books 
have been translated into English and published by 
Augsburg Publishing House. 














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